Nocturn
by jmp22895
Summary: There's a new member of the Akatsuki. But who is she? Why is she there? And why doesn't she even remember...?
1. Bloodstained Meadow

** "GOOD MORNING, ITACHI-SAAAAAN!"**

Itachi yelled and fell out of his bed. He groaned and looked up. It was almost pitch black. All he could see was a large silhouette standing next to him.

"Kisame?" He mumbled groggily. He sat up and looked around. "How did you get in here? I thought I locked the door." He yawned and rubbed his eyes.

"Oh, I picked the lock." Kisame answered with a shrug.

Itachi rolled his eyes and crawled back into his bed. Was everyone besides him in the Akatsuki insane? "Say, Kisame, what was it that we were discussing yesterday? Possibly something to do with personal space…?" He glanced at the digital clock on his bedside table. His eyesight wasn't all that good, but he could still vaguely make out the small red numbers glowing in the darkness. "Kisame, why the hell did you wake me at 4:16?"

"Well, we're heading out today, remember? We're supposed to be doing…recon or something!" Itachi could tell Kisame was grinning happily. "Don't you want to get up so we can get an early start?"

"It's 4 freaking 16 in the morning!"

"So we'll get an extra early start!" Kisame answered. "Now come on! Let's go get breakfast before Deidara uses all the pancake mix!" He grabbed Itachi's arm and pulled him up. "And I'm not letting you skip breakfast today. It's very unhealthy." He continued dragging Itachi to the door. "So you want chocolate chip pancakes, or—"

Itachi pulled his arm away. "I'm not hungry." He answered, trudging back toward his bed. "Wake me up at a reasonable hour." He flopped back onto the bed.

Suddenly he was hoisted into the air. "Itachi-san, we're leaving in an hour! Let's go!" Kisame said.

Itachi started hitting Kisame. "Fine! I'll get up!" He shouted. "Leggo!" He began squirming. "Damn it, Kisame, I still in my underwear! I need to get dressed!"

Kisame dropped him. He started stammering. "Oh, I-I didn't…err…sorry. Just…get dressed, and…" He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "…um…yeah…" He quickly walked out and closed the door.

Itachi sighed and stood up. The longer he was in this organization, the stranger it became. Everything from the missions to the people. He started grabbing things off his dresser and stuffing them into a small bag. They'd be gone anywhere between a day to a month. Might as well start packing…

(Meanwhile)

In a wide field, a young woman sat up and opened her eyes. Her head throbbed painfully. She reached up and pressed her hand to her forehead. When she pulled away, her hand was slick with blood.

She stood up, swaying from the loss of blood. _Where am I?_ She wondered. She stumbled forward, trying to focus her eyes.

Bloody corpses littered the field, staining the ground a sickening reddish-black. Flowers were sticking out through the mass of corpses, also stained a bloody red. She looked at them, stumbling to the ground. Then she glanced down. Her clothes were soaked in blood. How much of it was hers, she wondered. Her body had gone numb. She stumbled through the massacre. Did she know any of these people? Why were they here?

She stopped at a face she recognized. A bloody, broken body lying on the ground… She'd been traveling with this man, she remembered that much. What was his name? Did it even matter anymore? He was dead. He'd lived up to his usefulness…

_What?_ She shook her head. _No, that's not right. It can't be. Usefulness? This man died protecting me._

Protecting from what? She looked around at the lifeless bodies staring up at her. She shut her eyes and tried to remember. She found snippets of thoughts floating through her mind, useless fragmented ideas. They'd finally found her. She wasn't safe. She had to leave. They were tracking her.

But who were they? How did they track her? What was going on? She rubbed her head. Everything was so fuzzy. What was happening? Where was she?

More importantly than that, _who _was she…?

Protruding from a nearby body was her sword. She walked over and yanked it out. The blood on it was still red, not dry. Some blood spurted from the body onto her bare feet. She sighed and put the bloody sword in the sheath on her waist. She needed to leave before anyone saw her.

She began to stumble away. Then her eyes caught the young man she'd been traveling with. She paused. She wished she'd bothered to learn his name.

She sighed and picked up his body.

Hours later she finished burying him. She carved a cross into the tree she buried him beneath. "Goodbye." She murmured quietly, dropping a single bloody wildflower onto the mound of dirt. "Goodbye, my nameless friend…" She turned.

A man appeared behind her and held a kunai to her throat. "Don't move." He hissed. She stiffened. There was no way for her to be able to fight this man off in her current condition.

She glanced back at the man. "And who might you be?" She asked calmly. He wasn't 'them'. Somehow she could just tell. Even so, she could tell this man was evil. So that wasn't much of a consolidation.

The man laughed slightly. "I guess I shouldn't bother asking you that, right?" She blinked. Who was she? She began raking her brain. Who…?

He stepped forward and smashed his fist into the side of her head. She fell to the ground. Before she blacked out, she caught a glimpse of the red cloud on his clothing. And a name echoed through her head. Her name.

Martel.


	2. First Impressions

Itachi and Kisame walked up an old dusty path toward the Akaktsuki hideout. Kisame was loudly humming show tunes. Itachi was rubbing his temples. "Kisame, _please_ cut that out."

Kisame looked over at him. "Why is that, Itachi-san? I thought you liked the Lion King."

"Well sure, but you've been humming the same song for an hour straight. And you're completely tone deaf."

"That's not very nice, Itachi-san…"

They walked into the hideout to hear faint angry shouting. "What the hell is that?" Itachi wondered aloud.

Kisame shrugged. "You think Hidan is doing one of those…human sacrifice thingies…?" He asked. They looked at each other and shuttered. "Y-yeah, probably not…" Kisame mumbled uncomfortably.

The two of them strode inside. When they got inside, they saw Deidara sitting on the couch, staring blankly at the TV, which wasn't actually on. Itachi walked over. "What's all that shouting?" He asked.

Deidara glanced up. "Oh, that?" He asked as a long string of profanities echoed through to room. "So yesterday Konan came in, dragging some bloody unconscious broad. Locked her in a room over there and ordered us not to do anything or let her out or anything." He shrugged. "So I guess the broad woke up, yeah." He motioned to a nearby hallway.

Itachi glanced at the hallway. "Ok…" He looked over at the TV. "So what're you watching?"

"Does it look like I'm watching anything?"

Before Itachi could make a comment, Konan strode in. She looked at Itachi and Kisame. "Oh, so you're back." She said. She began walking down a hallway. "Good. Get everyone in here. I need to speak with them."

Soon the rest of the organization was all standing in the room. Deidara, who hadn't moved from his spot on the couch, asked, "So what do ya guys think this is about?"

"Maybe we're getting paid." Kakuzu said.

"Fuck yeah! Virgin sacrifices!" Hidan shouted.

"Varnish?" Sasori asked with a shrug.

"I hope we're getting a pool installed." Kisame mumbled to himself.

"Tobi becomes a member of The Akatsuki!" Tobi cheered.

"Tobi, this is a private meeting, yeah! Get the hell out!"

Konan walked in. Behind her walked a girl with long blond hair and bandages covering her arm. The others looked at them, curious. Then Hidan shouted, "FUCK YEAH! VIRGIN SACRIFICES! IN YOUR FACES!"

Konan glared at him. "No." She said. Hidan crossed his arms unhappily. She motioned to the girl. "Your orders are as follows: first, make sure nothing happens to this girl. No killing, no sacrificing, no _anything_." She looked intently at Hidan. He scowled. She continued. "Furthermore, do not let her leave this place. I want one of you watching her at all times."

"What, now we're fucking babysitters?" Hidan growled. "That wasn't in the job description." He sighed. "Well, whatever. You a virgin?" He asked the girl.

Konan looked at him. "What did I just—"

The girl grabbed Hidan's collar. "Do I look like a fucking virgin to you, bitch?" She hissed.

The room went silent. Hidan opened his mouth to reply, but couldn't think of anything to say. The girl scowled. "Let me answer that question. No, I'm not." She let go. "Next time you insult me, I'll kill you. Got it?"

They all stared at her. Even Konan looked stunned. After a moment, Hidan recomposed himself. "Ha! Too bad for you, I'm immortal!"

She looked at him. "Really?" She asked. Then she pulled a kunai out of her pocket and jammed it into Hidan's chest.

"WHAT THE FUCK?" Hidan screamed.

"Whoa!" She said. "Cool! He really is immortal!"

Hidan stared at the kunai protruding from his chest. "Are you fucking insane? What if I was lying?"

She thought for a second. "I guess you'd just be a dead liar then." She answered with a shrug.

They all stared at this insane girl. She glanced around. "So who the hell are you people anyway?" She asked Konan.

Konan blinked a few times. Then she quickly walked away. "You all have your orders." She said.

Itachi leaned over to Kisame. "So any idea why we're supposed to be watching this girl?" He whispered. "You think she's some sort of…political figure or something?"

Kisame shrugged. Then he walked over. "So we never caught your name." He said.

"Huh…?" She mumbled. "Oh, yeah… I, uh… I'm, uh… you're blue…" She reached out and poked him. Then she blinked. "Oh right, my name's Martel. Do you…use make up or something…?"

"…No…" Kisame mumbled, looking down self-consciously.

"Martel…" Itachi mumbled. "That's an interesting name."

She glared at him. "What, you don't like my name?" She yelled. "What's yours, asshole?"

"It's Itachi."

She stared at him for a second. Then she started laughing. "What the hell kinda name is that?" She laughed. "Doesn't that mean weasel? What, did your parents not love you as a child?"

Itachi glared at her. "My parents loved me as a child."

"Before you killed them." Kisame added. Itachi just scowled at him. "What? You did."

Martel sighed. "Man, I was hoping for someone here to be sane…" She looked around. "Listen, freaks, I don't take very kindly to being kidnapped." She thought for a second. "So how 'bout either I try to escape, or you all buy me shit. That seems fair."

"That's it. Let's get rid of her." Kakuzu said.

"Are you kidding me?" Deidara asked incredulously. "They gave us a hot girl! I mean, come on! What's not to like, yeah!" He walked over. "Hey babe, how 'bout I give you a tour of the place? My room can be first, yeah."

She looked at him for a moment. Then she said, "Oh, wait, you're a guy?"

Deidara stared at her. Kisame started giggling. Itachi smirked. Sasori mumbled, "I can understand how she made the mistake…"

Tobi walked over. "It's alright, Deidara Senpai," he said, patting his shoulder. "You do look kinda feminine."

Deidara just looked at him. After a few seconds, he muttered, "Oh, I'll kill you later…"

Tobi turned toward Martel and held out his hand. "My name is Tobi!"

She looked at him. Then she asked, "Do I…know you…?"

He looked at her, confused. After a second, he shook his head. "I don't think so why?"

She thought back to the man who'd captured her. Then she shook her head. "Never mind…it's nothing…" She walked over to the nearby hallway. "So I'm tired. Where do I sleep? 'Cause I'm not sleeping in that closet again." She stopped at a nearby room. Then she walked inside and slammed the door. "I call this room."

Itachi walked over. "But that's…my room…"

Deidara laughed. "Good luck with that, Itachi."

Itachi tried to open the door. "Excuse me, but that's my room." The door was locked. "Um, I'm sure there are plenty of extra rooms that you could use…"

"Who's this Sasuke person you have so many pictures of in your bag?"

Itachi stared at the door. Then he started banging. "DAMN IT, STOP GOING THROUGH MY STUFF!" He shouted. "I MEAN IT!"

Deidara laughed. Everyone else walked away.


	3. The Next Day

Kisame sat down on the couch and yawned. "Good morning everyone!" He said. He glanced around. "So where's Itachi-san?"

Deidara strode by with a plate full of pancakes. "Try looking down, yeah."

Kisame blinked he looked down at the angry eighteen-year-old he was currently suffocating. He jumped up. "Oh, good morning, Itachi-san!"

Itachi sat up, a murderous look in his exhausted eyes. "Damn it, Kisame." He grumbled. "I finally fell asleep."

Sasori, who'd just walked in, looked at him questioningly. "You slept on the couch? Why didn't you just break in and kick her out? It is your room after all."

"I tried that. She was…um…changing…" He muttered, rubbing a large lump on his head.

Deidara laughed. "Man, I like this new girl." He commented. "She's really sexy, able to piss Itachi off—"

"And thinks you resemble a woman…" Sasori added.

Deidara scowled. "Well, aside from that." He mumbled.

Itachi crossed his arms. "She's rude, obnoxious, and I really doubt she's human, let alone female."

"Well, so is Hidan, but we tolerate him, yeah…"

Itachi's door opened and Martel strode out. "Good morning, jackasses." She said loudly. "Man I slept good!" She yawned, hopped over the back of the couch, and landed with a thud next to Itachi. "Move over, weasel-boy. I wanna watch TV."

Itachi clenched his teeth. _Don't reply, and maybe she'll go away,_ he told himself.

Martel elbowed Itachi over. Then she froze. She looked up at Deidara's plate. "Hey, uh… Daidora."

"It's pronounced—"

"Yeah, whatever, where'd you get the pancakes?"

"Um, over there…" He said, pointing toward the kitchen. Martel hopped up and walked away.

Itachi sighed and rubbed his temples. "God damn it." He mumbled bitterly. "Someone, please kill me now."

Hidan strode in. "Sure. You're a virgin, right?"

"Shut up."

Konan strode in. "Morning everyone. I have some things for you to do. Hidan, go get Kakuzu and Zetsu." She said.

Hidan walked away. Itachi looked up at Konan. "Please tell me our orders changed to 'get rid of the girl as soon as possible'."

"No."

"Damn." He muttered. "So what are we supposed to do today?"

"Well, Hidan and Kakuzu need to go assassinate some people… Sasori and Deidara need to go run some errands… Zetsu needs to go gather information…"

"Alright." Itachi said slowly. "So what do Kisame and I do?" There was a long, awkward pause. After a minute, Itachi grimaced. "Oh, please not—"

"You two will stay here and watch the girl."

"Aw come on!" He groaned. "Can't you just make Zetsu do it or something?"

Zetsu strode by. "Yeah, I wouldn't mind that much."

"Yeah! I mean, she looks delicious."

"Idiot, you're not supposed to say that."

The two others stared at him uncomfortably. Then Konan continued. "I feel it would be a bad decision to let Zetsu watch her." She told him. He nodded blankly. She added, "And Hidan, Kakuzu, Deidara, and Sasori are doing things that are very person specific."

"So that just leaves Kisame and me…" Itachi mumbled unhappily.

"Pretty much."

Itachi groaned. "Damn it." He stood up. "Seriously, why do we have to watch this jerk anyway?"

Konan looked at him. "Actually, I don't know." Itachi blinked. He looked over at Konan, confused. She shrugged. "I actually do not understand this order myself."

Itachi scowled and closed his eyes. It was going to be a long day…

(Meanwhile)

A man strode down a dark, empty hallway, blood dripping from his hand. Not his blood, of course. Whose it was, he really didn't care. It must've been the prisoner he'd eviscerated earlier. He smirked at the memory.

He entered another room. The walls were smeared with black, dried blood from whoever had been unlucky enough to have been in the room before. Today, though, a young man inhabited the room, beaten, bloody, deathly pale, but alive.

The first man reached down and grabbed the young man's throat, dragging him to his feet. The young man began pleading, begging not to be killed. The first smirked. "Shut up." He said calmly. The pleading stopped. The man continued. "Alright, your answer to my question probably will determine whether you live or die, so I would recommend answering carefully."

He reached into his pocket and drew out an old photograph. The scrawny, angry, blond girl glared out of the picture with piercing blue eyes. Her clothes were soaked with blood, and she had bruises on her face and neck.

"This picture is a little outdated, but she shouldn't have changed very much." He murmured. "Tell me, have you seen this girl?" There was a long silence. He tightened his grip on the kid's throat, enough for his nails to draw blood. "You didn't answer my question, boy." He said in a soft, menacing voice. "Do I need to repeat myself?"

"W-Wait…" he gasped. The grip loosened slightly. "I…I remember her…" He murmured hoarsely. "She was…near one of the…ninja villages…"

"Really?" He asked with a smile. He tore the young man's throat out. "That's pretty far from here…" He said quietly, inspecting the fresh blood on his hand. The boy's limp body collapsed onto the floor.

"Matsuda, sir." The man turned to see a guard standing in the doorway. "Was he lying…?"

"No. He just didn't know anything else." Matsuda replied. He walked out. "Clean that up."

He strode away, and pulled out the old photo. The photo of the girl named Martel…


	4. Amnesiac

_ The bloody handprint on the wall glistened sickeningly in the dim light. The little girl stared blankly up at the ceiling, gasping out in pain. _Breathe deep even breaths._ She felt blood soaked into her clothes. _Breathe… _She shut her eyes tightly. _Just stay awake… _Her vision began to blur…_

…

Itachi sat on the couch staring absentmindedly at the TV. The more he tried to think, the more confused he felt. Who was Martel? Why was the Akatsuki ordered to kidnap her? He sighed. If Konan didn't even know…

"Itachi-san," Kisame said, walking over. "About that Martel girl…"

"I don't get it." Itachi muttered. He looked up at Kisame. "Who is she? Is she some sort of princess or…a public official…?" He shook his head. "And even if that were the case, why would we need her in the first place? I don't get it. Do you?"

"Um, no," Kisame replied. "I just wanted to tell you she fell asleep on the pancakes and wouldn't wake up."

Itachi looked at him. Then he stood up. "Oh good. Is that why you came to get me?" He muttered. He walked into the kitchen to find Martel asleep at the small cluttered table, with her face against a pancake and a beer. He shook her shoulder. "Hey, are you dead?"

She sat up abruptly. She looked at him, her eyes bleary. Itachi smirked at her. "You have a pancake on your face." He told her. "I thought you 'slept good.'"

She pulled the pancake off her face. "Hey, I'm concussed." She retorted. "Not my fault, weasel-brain."

Itachi sat down next to her. She looked to be about his age. She didn't resemble any famous people he knew about. Maybe he could do some snooping. "So, Martel," he began.

She looked over at him, looking tired. "What do you want?" She growled angrily.

"Well, why don't you tell me a little about yourself?" He said.

She blinked. Then she glanced down. Her hand absentmindedly drifted to her head. "Well…I don't really have much to tell you," She said. "I woke up in a field. I think I hit my head at some point."

Itachi stared at her. "So you don't know anything? About yourself, or anything?" He asked.

"Well, no." She said. "I mean, I kind of remember some things if I think about it hard enough." She closed her eyes. "I remember my name is Martel. I remember I ran away from somewhere. It's always the specifics that escape me."

She held out her arm. There was a faint white scar stretching across her wrist. "I tried to kill myself once, but I don't remember why." Itachi stared blankly at the scar. Martel took a swig of beer. "Let's see, I was arrested once… I think I'm 17…"

Itachi reached over and yanked the beer out of her hand. "In that case, you shouldn't be drinking alcohol."

"What the fuck!" She protested. "I was drinking that!" She stood up. "Asshole."

She walked out of the room. Itachi stayed in the seat. After that talk, he was even more confused. They'd kidnapped a 17-year-old amnesiac? Why? Who the hell was she? She stood up and followed her out. "Wait," he called out to Martel.

She glared at him. "Quit stalking me, you freak."

"Alright, first off it's my job to watch you. And anyway, that can't be all you remember, is it?" He asked. "I mean…" He froze. Then he said, "Your head is bleeding."

"Huh?" She asked. She reached up and felt the warm slick blood on her head. "Shit, not again." She muttered unhappily. Then she shrugged. "Oh well, I've had worse." She strode off. "Probably."

Itachi rolled his eyes and walked after her. "But you really don't remember anything at all?"

"Nah," she replied. "My brain is completely empty. I can't remember a thing." She yawned and walked over to a door. "So whose room is this?"

Before Itachi could answer, she was inside. "Oh, this is Kisame's room, right?"

"Yeah, but he really doesn't like it when—" He froze. "Wait, how could you tell?"

She glanced around. "Let's see, he has a fish tank/pool thing instead of most of the floor, his bed is a water bed and—wow, why does he have so many pinups of Kaname Kuran?"

"WHAT THE FUCK?" Kisame screamed, running down the hallway. He ran inside and shoved her out. "GET OUT OF MY ROOM!" He yelled and slammed the door.

She stuck her tongue out at him. Itachi just blinked. "Who's Kaname—?"

"NOBODY!" Kisame yelled from inside his room.

Itachi shook his head. "I really don't care, actually." He said. He looked back at Martel. "Anyway, you lost your memories from head trauma?" He asked.

"Jeez, you're, like, obsessing with this," she told him. Then she thought. "Wait, are you just trying to get in my pants?"

"Not if your life depended on it." Itachi answered.

Martel frowned and walked over to another room. She opened it and looked around. "This one I'm gonna have to go with the creepy plant thing that wanted to eat me."

"Zetsu," Itachi told her. "The creepy plant thing that wants to eat you is Zetsu." He stood there, resisting the urge to look over her shoulder. "How could you tell?"

"Let's see…dirt, potted plants, and a tons of gardening magazines under the bed."

Itachi shrugged. "Makes sense if he's part plant, I guess." He answered. He thought for a second. "But I wonder why does he need so many gardening magazines?"

"Don't think too hard about it," she answered.

Itachi just blinked. "Um…eww…?"

She smirked at him. Then she crossed her arms. "Oh, and yeah, it's likely I lost my memories from head trauma." She rubbed the dry blood on her forehead. "Why do you want to know so badly?"

He looked at her. "Just curious." He crossed his arm and closed his eyes. "I heard with head trauma, jogging one's memories with events from the past can—" He opened his eyes, to realize Martel was walking away. "…can… and I'm now talking to myself," he muttered unhappily, walking after her. "By the way, I'm sleeping in my bed tonight."

She stopped and glanced at him. Then she smirked. "Jeez, at least take me out to dinner first."

Itachi stumbled slightly. "Not like that…!" He protested.

She laughed a little bit. "Wow, you really need to get laid," she said. Then she shrugged and kept walking. "I'm sure that Kisame guy wouldn't mind all that much."

"Eww."

She kept walking, rubbing the gash on her forehead.

(Meanwhile)

Kakuzu angrily yanked another knife out of Hidan's back. "Be more careful next time, 'cause next time I'm not helping you out."

Hidan glared at him. "But I found a nunnery! Do you realize how many fucking virgins are in a nunnery? I'd be set for years!"

"You do realize that fuck means 'sex', right?" Kakuzu looked around at the small village, now devoid of life. "So wonder what this was about?"

"Who the fuck cares?" Hidan replied. "We got orders to take out an entire village! It's the funnest order we've had in weeks! Hell of a lot better than babysitting. And no complaining; I saw you taking all those people's wallets."

Kakuzu kept walking. "Still, it just seems kind of out of place," he said. "No major imports or exports, out of the way… this town barely has any contact with the other villages." He thought for a second. "And that Martel kid. What do you make of her?"

"Dunno," Hidan answered, pulling another knife from his leg. "I like her though."

Kakuzu just looked at him. Finally he said, "You are a moron. Let's go."

The both headed off, leaving behind the bloody desolate village.


	5. Knifes

Itachi sat up on the couch trying to ignore all the loud shouting next to him. Martel had been there for almost a month now, but she still was just as rude and obnoxious as she was when they'd met, if not more. And he still knew just as little about her as the day they met.

"Listen, you stupid asshole," Martel yelled at Deidara, "stop leaving your shit all over the place or I'll shove all of your exploding clay bird things down your throat! Got that?"

"Hey, why do I always get blamed for this shit, yeah?" He replied unhappily, slumping back on the couch.

She scowled at him and held up a pair of underwear with the word Deidara sown into the side. "This was in the microwave."

Itachi glanced at the two of them. It was kind of scary how she'd already gotten used to the other members of the Akatsuki. Even he wasn't completely used to the others (mostly Hidan).

"Will you two shut up?" He muttered to them groggily. "I'm trying to go back to sleep."

"Aw, I'm sorry, was Weasle-boy trying to get his beauty sleep?" Martel retorted. "And anyway, it's almost noon. Get up."

"Well I'm still tired." He replied. "I'd probably be less tired if you stopped commandeering my room." Then he blinked. "Wait, I know my eyesight is getting worse by the day, but are you wearing a bra with the Akatsuki clouds on it?"

She smirked. "You got a problem with that?"

"Well, I don't care at all, but it looks like that's all you're wearing…aside from those extremely short, tight shorts…" He looked up at her. "You don't feel at all uncomfortable wearing those…here…in a building full of men?" He thought for a second. "And Tobi."

"I wouldn't really call a weasel, a shark thing, a zombie, a puppet, a rag doll, a paper mache woman, and a giant plant thing men," she replied. "Or Tobi," she added.

"Tobi is a guy!" Tobi shouted from another room. "Do you want proof?"

"Tobi, put your pants back on, yeah!" Deidara called.

Itachi rolled his eyes. "Anyway," he continued, "where the hell did you get that thing?"

"Nowhere," she answered a little too quickly. "And anyway, I think I can hold my own here." She turned. "Hey Hidan!" She called.

Hidan walked over. "What the fuck you want?" He asked.

She strode over to him. "Kay, if I hear you swear at all today, I'll chop your dick off," she said with a smile.

He blinked. "Huh?" He asked. "What the fuck are you—"

"I'll give you three strikes," she said, pulling a large butcher knife out of her pocket. "That was strike one. You don't want Kakuzu to have to sow _that_ back on, do you?"

"That's fu—" He froze as she held up the knife. He cleared his throat. "…stupid…" he finished uncomfortably. "…that's stupid…"

She smiled at him and sat back down on the couch. She smirked at Itachi. "Yeah, I think I'll be fine."

"Itachi-san!" Kisame sat down next to Itachi. "Look, I bought doughnuts!"

"Interesting…" he mumbled.

Hidan walked out, scowling. Martel walked after him. "I wonder if he'll get freaked out if I follow him," she said, tucking the knife out of sight.

Itachi glared at her until she was gone. Kisame watched him. "You know, she's not that bad when you get to know her," he said, taking a bite of a doughnut.

Itachi looked over at him. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Well, I've actually talked to her a couple times, and she's actually pretty nice," he said.

"Were you dropped on your head when you were a baby?"

Kisame pouted. "Itachi-san, you're so mean," he muttered unhappily. He crossed his arms. "She still can be pretty nice, though."

"I think she's sexy," Deidara added.

The other two yelped. "Holy shit, how long have you been there?" Itachi asked.

Deidara rolled his eyes. "I haven't moved for the past hour or so," he muttered. He sat up. "Anyway, on the topic of Martel, I happen to like her too."

Kisame looked at him. "I feel like it's for different reasons," he said. "Didn't you, like, watch her change once?"

Deidara shrugged. "So?" He asked. He thought for a second. Then he glanced at Itachi. "Hey did you know that when Orochimaru was here he set cameras up in your room?"

"What?"

"Hey guys…?" Martel called in a small voice. The other three looked up as she peeked into the room. "Um, can you do me a favor?"

Itachi scowled at her. "What?" He asked.

She stepped into the room. Her right leg was soaked in blood seeping from the large jagged gash in her thigh. "So you know that knife I had a few minutes ago…?"

The three stared at her. Finally, Kisame screamed and fell down. Itachi got up and helped her to the couch. He reached into an extra pocket he'd sown into the inside of his cloak and pulled out some bandages. "You put the knife in your pants pocket?" He managed to ask.

"Yeah, not my brightest idea I guess," she replied, pulling off her blood-soaked shorts and setting her leg on Itachi.

Itachi stiffened. "Um, is that really necessary…?" He mumbled uncomfortably.

"What you're not going to do anything," she replied with a shrug.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

She blinked and looked at him, confused. "Wait, aren't you gay?" There was a long awkward silence. Martel turned toward Kisame. "I thought you said that you and him were gay."

"W-When the hell did I say that?" He stammered, his face turning a weird purple color.

She rolled her eyes. "Well, whatever, I don't particularly care. All I know is that I'm going to pass out from blood loss in a few minutes if none of you help me out here."

"Can I help? Is she wearing underwear?" Deidara asked.

"No and yes," Itachi replied as he bandaged Martel's leg, still seething from the 'gay' comment.

When he finished, Martel sighed. "Ow, that was painful," she muttered, looking at the bloody bandages. "Stupid knife."

"You're blaming the knife?" Itachi asked. He noticed a thin white scar across her other leg. "How'd you get this one? Did you trip over another knife?" He asked sarcastically, poking the scar.

_A loud scream pierced the silence and echoed through the room. There was a bright flash of red._

Itachi jumped and looked around. "What the—"

Deidara leaned over. "So what kind of underwear is she wearing?" He asked. Itachi stared at him.

Kisame glared at him. "You know, you're being really sexist." He told him. "And anyway, all this is coming from the guy that most people mistake as an ugly flat-chested girl."

"Shut up, fatty."

Itachi stared at the two of them. It was like nothing had happened. It didn't even seem like they even heard it. He glanced at Martel. She was looking at him closely. After a while, she said sarcastically, "Hey, weasel-boy, as much as I like sitting in your lap, please let go of my leg."

"Huh?" He glanced down and realized he was still grabbing onto her leg. He shoved her off quickly. "Sorry," he mumbled.

Deidara leaned over. "So are you ok?" He asked, grabbing her leg and inspecting the wound (or at least pretended to).

She glanced at him. "Well, it's not—" Suddenly she screamed and jumped back on Itachi. "Ew, his hand-tongue thing just licked my leg!"

"D-Did not, yeah."

Itachi pushed Martel off of him and stood up. Kisame looked up at him. "What are you doing?" He asked.

"Nothing, just…taking a nap," he lied. He walked away.


	6. Itachi's Nap

Itachi walked down the crooked and broken path through the town. It was loud and reeked of poverty and shit. (Both literally and figuratively.) He sighed as he made his way through the crowded and violent streets, stepping around all the street fights he came upon. He didn't bother wearing his hat; nobody in this town really gave a shit about whether or not someone was wanted. In fact, he'd actually gotten several people cheering him on and buying him drinks for being worth the most money in the building once.

He strode into a nearby bar. He scanned the room for anyone familiar, squinting to make everything out. His eyes came to rest on a young man in the corner resting his head in his hand, with hair that looked like it'd never seen a comb and eyes with dark purple bags underneath. He walked over and sat down across from him. There was a long silence, when Itachi realized the man was asleep.

"Hey, Kisuke," Itachi called, snapping his fingers in front of the man's face.

"For the last time, I'm an atheist—" He sat up abruptly and froze. Then he grinned. "Oh, it's just you, Itachi. Thought it was one of those bastards that keep trying to convert me to whatever the hell religion they are." He turned and called across the room, "He doesn't even exist, you stupid bastards!"

Itachi rolled his eyes. Someday he was gonna show up here and this guy would have been murdered in his sleep. "So, Kisuke—"

"Right, right, I know what you're gonna ask," he said, turning back toward Itachi. He fished into his pocket and pulled out a folder. "This is all I've got so far." He paused and thought for a minute. "Actually, it's not all that much. There's barely any info on this Martel chick. I couldn't even find any record of her existing prior to her arrests. By the way, nice choice in girls to stalk. Very sexy."

"Arrests?" Itachi asked, deciding to ignore that last comment. He grabbed the folder. He did recall her saying something about jail. "For what?"

"Um, let's see, four separate counts of petty theft, prostitution, and second degree murder," he mumbled, trying to flag a waitress over to the table. "Only I think she was acquitted for that last one."

Itachi looked through the folder. Kisuke took a swig of beer. "It was weird," he continued, "I couldn't find any birth certificates or nothing. And usually I'm good at that shit." He leaned back. "So who exactly is this girl you stalking, anyway?" He asked. Then his phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID and stood up. "Crap, gotta take this call," he muttered, walking off.

Itachi looked through the files, scanning the pages for anything of interest. It really wasn't a lot. Nothing explaining why the Akatsuki kidnapped her, at least. Itachi sighed. The more he tried to figure it out, the more he felt he was going nowhere.

He flipped through the file again. Arrested for stealing from a grocery store…once from a restaurant…a different grocery store… All food places…if she needed to steal food, there was no way she was rich. Which didn't help him at all.

One arrest for prostitution… _Wait, _he thought, _how old is she again? _He glanced through the papers. Each arrest had a different age. Ones that didn't match the order of the dates. He sighed again.

And murder…not even anyone important, just a custodian who happened to drop dead of natural causes. He sighed again. There was virtually nothing.

Kisuke walked back over. "Hey, how much money you got?" He asked, sitting back down across the table.

Itachi rolled his eyes. "You do realize that _you _owe _me, _right?"

"I know I know," he replied. "Why else would I be coerced into doing all this crap for free?" He gave an exaggerated sigh. "The problem is that I owe… people…a lot of money."

"How much you need?" Itachi asked.

"Maybe eight grand or so…"

Itachi just stared at him. "Yeah, how about no," he answered. "You haven't even helped me figure out anything about this girl. Why would I—"

"Oh, hey, did you look in the back of the file?"

Itachi blinked. He opened the file again, flipping straight to the back. Four separate counts petty theft taking place the same time as the first ones…

"So she had an accomplice of the thefts?" He asked with a shrug. He set the papers down.

Kisuke shrugged. "I couldn't find a name," he added. "It was weird. That's usually not that hard to find, but then again, there was practically nothing about this Martel girl, either." He leaned back. "How 'bout two grand?"

"I feel like Kakuzu would kill me if he got wind of this," Itachi sighed, pulling out a checkbook. "And you owe me a hell of a lot now." _Why the hell am I so nice? _He thought.

Itachi pulled out the check and laid it on the table. Then he stood up. "Thanks for your help," he said.

"Yup, 'cause I had a choice," came the reply.

Itachi suddenly looked around. Kisuke just looked up at him questioningly. Finally, Itachi said, "I don't know why, but I feel like someone's watching me."

"Aside from the gay guy who's been watching you for the past fifteen minutes?" Kisuke asked. Itachi looked over at a creepy-looking man across the room that waved flirtatiously at him. Kisuke added, "And I know for a fact he's gay; I have plenty of evidence."

"Well, uh, I don't…think that's it…" Itachi mumbled uncomfortably, wondering just what that 'evidence' was. "I felt like it just started…" He glanced around again, then turned. "Alright, I'm just gonna leave now."

"Yeah, whatever, thanks for the money, man," Kisuke called, pocketing the check. "And if you need any more help, with like setting up cameras in the girl's room or—"

Itachi lost the rest of the sentence in the noise of the crowded bar. He rolled his eyes and walked away. "I think Orochimaru beat you to the punch," he muttered disdainfully.

…

On the other side of the bar, a man standing in the shadows smirked. It seemed he wasn't the only one looking around for information on Martel. He watched as Itachi left the bar. Then he stood up. Maybe he'd have a 'chat' with that Kisuke person first…


	7. Gone

"Itachi-san, where have you been?"

Itachi glanced at Kisame as he walked inside. "Um…napping?"

"Outside?"

"Uh, sure. Outside."

"Doing what?" Kisame asked suspiciously. "Did you go to a bar? Did you get drunk? Did you meet any girls? What about men? Are you on any drugs? Quick, pee in this cup!"

Itachi blinked. "Excuse me…?" He walked away. "Listen, even if it was any of your business, I'm not peeing in the cup. And I'm not drunk, on drugs, or anything else you can think of."

"So you wouldn't object to a drug test, then."

Itachi rolled his eyes. "For the love of…" He walked into his room and slammed the door. "You're crazy."

He sighed and sat down on the bed. Kisame was the strangest person (using that word loosely) he'd ever met. Of course, everyone else was insane, too. He yawned and laid back. If only Kisuke had found anything interesting about Martel.

_Wait…_ He sat up, confused. _Shouldn't Martel…?_

He looked around, to see Martel standing in the corner with a horrified look on her face, holding a wet towel in front of her. Itachi stared at her for a few seconds. Then he sprinted out of the room. "Shit!" He shouted, slamming the door.

"You know, it's possible for someone to have drugged you and you just don't remember it," Kisame insisted.

Itachi stared at him for a few seconds. Kisame stared back. "You're face is red," he noted. "Are you feeling alright? Feverish? You know, that could be a drug-related side affect."

Itachi sighed and sat down on the couch. "Damn it, Kisame, I'm not on any drugs," he muttered, putting his head in his hands. "I have a headache…" he mumbled.

Martel walked out of his room, looking pissed. She strode over. "You idiotic perverted little ermine thing!" She shouted, yanking on his ponytail. "If you ever try that again, I swear, I will castrate you with a fork!"

Itachi glared at her. He really wasn't in the mood for this. He stood up. "Listen here, you obnoxious little bitch," he started shouting, "I have been trying as hard as I can to at least try to be nice, try to be polite, try to be the better man! Do you know how hard that has been? Do you know how impossibly hard it has been to keep myself from slapping you across your fucking face every time you open your damn mouth? Since you've gotten here, you have done nothing but insult me, disrespect me, threaten me, take my things, call me names, and annoy the shit out of me! And you know what? I am getting sick and tired of it!"

He gasped for breath a little bit. Martel just looked at him. "Wow. You finished, 'cause I zoned out by the time you said 'listen'."

He stared at her for a moment. Then he grabbed her arm. "That is it," he growled. "Stay the fuck out of my room, stay the fuck out of my stuff, and stay the fuck out of my life!"

She looked at him for a few seconds. Then she shrugged. "Kay," she muttered. She sat down on the couch. "Fine."

Itachi blinked. "That's it? No insults? No protests? No…anything?"

She shrugged. "If it really bothers you that much, you can sleep in your bed. I'll just sleep here."

Itachi stared at her for a second. Finally, he said, "What did you do to my room?" Then he turned toward Kisame. "You, come with me," he said. He dragged Kisame into his room, hiding behind him. "Do you see any booby traps? Anything poisonous in the bed? No surprises in the closet?"

"Uh, no," Kisame replied, looking around. "Um, do you want me to, like, test out the bed or something…?"

Itachi just looked at him. "No…?"

Kisame laughed nervously. "Yeah, um, th-that would be weird…" he mumbled. Itachi continued looking at him. Kisame swallowed nervously. "Y-Yeah, I think I'll just…go now…" he muttered, slowly backing out.

Itachi rolled his eyes and flopped down on the bed. "Hell. Yes." He mumbled, closing his eyes.

"Itachi-san," Kisame whispered, shaking Itachi's shoulder. "Itachi-san, wake up."

Itachi opened one eye. "Kisame…?" He sat up groggily. "What do you want? I've only been laying here for—" he glanced sleepily at the clock. "…five…hours…" He rubbed his eyes. "…Whoa..." He yawned and lay back down. "What do you need…?"

"Martel's gone."

Itachi immediately sat back up. "What?"

Kisame pulled him out of the bed. "So I got up to go to the bathroom, 'cause apparently I drank too much water before I went to sleep—you probably don't care about that. Anyway, I passed the couch she was supposed to be sleeping in and there was no one there and I don't know where she could've gone!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a chart. "This chart has divided the responsibility of watching Martel between everyone! We're responsible for her tomorrow. It's midnight! That means that today is tomorrow! That means if the others find out we'll be dead!"

Itachi walked into the hallway. The couch was empty. There were no signs it had even been slept on. He kept remembering what she had said a while ago, "I don't really appreciate being kidnapped."

Itachi looked over at Kisame. "You think she ran away?" He asked.

Kisame stood there for a second. Then he shouted, "Ok, you check the inside, I'll check the outside!" He sprinted through the hallway and was out of sight.

Itachi sighed and began looking around. _Alright, _he thought,_ if I were Martel, where would I go? _He glanced in the bathroom. Empty. He frowned. _Where else…? _He gasped and sprinted over to Deidara's room. He froze outside. Would Deidara really…? He slowly peaked inside. Deidara lay there, sprawled sideways across his bed, sound asleep. Itachi tried not to laugh when he noticed one of his hands drooling.

He quietly closed the door. He walked to the next room and peaked inside. Sasori sat on the floor, varnishing his arm. He glanced up. "Need something, Itachi?"

Itachi closed the door. "No," he answered quickly. He walked to the next door. He cautiously peeked inside. Then he realized that Hidan slept naked. "Son of a bitch—" He slammed the door shut. "Oh my fucking…I need to go gouge my eyes out now…" he muttered. He walked into the kitchen.

Suddenly there was a knife against his throat. Itachi immediately grabbed the hand, yanked the knife out, grabbed the person's throat, and slammed them to the floor.

Martel looked up at him. "Oh, it's just weasel-boy!" She mumbled. "I thought it—" she hiccupped. "I-I thought it would be a…a bad guy or sumtin," she finished, her words slurring.

Itachi stared at her for a second. "Martel?" He asked, confused. He immediately helped her to her feet. "What the hell do you think you're—are you drunk?"

"W-Why does you…would think I'm drunk?" She replied.

Itachi glanced up at the empty six-pack lying on the table. He looked at her. Her hair was disheveled, she had dark circles under her eyes, and her face was slightly flushed. "No reason," he muttered.

She swayed slightly. "And anyways, I isn't drunk," she told him. "I…I believe the correct term is hammered." Suddenly she fell forward against Itachi. She mumbled, "Jeez, are you, like coming on to me or something…?"

He pushed her back slightly. "It's not considered coming on to you if you're the one sexually harassing me."

She hugged him. "You know, your hair smells like oranges."

"Good to know," he mumbled. He grabbed her arm and helped her to the couch. "So why the hell were you drinking alcohol at midnight?"

She shrugged. "I had a bad dream, so I decided to drown it out with beer."

He looked at her. "A bad dream?"

She yawned. "Well, I don't really remember it all that much or anythin…" she replied. "Just some screaming and blood and shit like that." She closed her eyes. "And someone was screamin at me…"

Itachi blinked a few times. "Yikes…" he mumbled, not sure what to say to her. "Um, maybe it would be better for you to just go back to sleep…?"

Her head landed on his shoulder. Then he realized she had already fallen asleep. "Son of a…" he mumbled. He looked at her a little bit. Then he laughed. "You know, I actually prefer you sleeping," he said to her. "You're not nearly as annoying."

She shivered slightly. Itachi reached over for a blanket, then realized that there wasn't one. He sat there for a while, not sure what to do. Then he looked back at her. "You planned for this, didn't you," he muttered darkly. Then he picked her up and walked into his room, tossing her onto the bed. "Damn it," he said unhappily.

Then he did something he hadn't done for a while; he poked her forehead. "Bitch." He walked out and lay down on the couch.

He woke up the next day with Kisame shaking him back and forth. "Itachi-san, Itachi-san wake up, I couldn't find her! Where do you think she went? What if she was eaten by cannibals? Or Zetsu? What if she was killed? Or raped or shot or stabbed or she fell into radioactive chemicals you know we're not in all that safe of an area what if—"

Itachi smacked him. "Kisame let go of me," he growled.

Martel walked in from the kitchen, holding an ice pack to her head. "Oww…" she mumbled, flinching as she sat down on the couch. "Morning Kisame, weasel-boy."

Kisame stared at her. Then he walked away, still stunned. "But she…but…huh…?"

Itachi glanced at her. "That's what you get for drinking beer in the middle of the night," he replied, motioning to the ice pack.

She got up. "Don't scold me, asshole." She walked toward the door. Then she paused. She turned toward him. "Um, thanks…Itachi…" Then she walked out.

He looked over toward where she'd left. He smiled slightly. "Don't mention it," he replied.


	8. Eyes

Itachi sat on the couch, watching TV. It had been over a week since the drinking incident. Not much had changed since then: Martel still insulted him, made fun of him, and consistently changed his name to some sort of small mammal.

Martel walked over. "So what're you watching, weasel-brain?" She asked with a grin, sitting herself down next to him.

"I honestly couldn't say," he replied, squinting at the TV. "I think it's some sort of cop show…but my eyes are pretty bad today."

Martel looked at the screen. "Oh, so that's why those two naked guys are wearing police hats."

He blinked. "Erm…yeah, I guess I'll just turn this off now…" he mumbled uncomfortably. He turned it off and sat back, trying to keep from looking freaked out.

Martel smirked. "Jeez, I didn't think you were into that kinda stuff, weasel-boy," she teased. Then she patted his head. "Well, whatever sexual preferences you have, I still respect you."

"I'm not gay," Itachi growled.

She laughed. "Well, whatever." She sighed and leaned back. "Where are the other weirdoes?" She asked after a second, glancing around. "Usually there's at least one around here to bother me."

Itachi shrugged. "No idea."

Kisame walked in with a plate of sandwiches, humming a song. "Hey Itachi-san," he called, "do you want some lunch?" He held out the plate in front of Itachi's face.

Itachi shook his head. "No thank you, I'm good," he replied, pushing the plate back toward Kisame.

Kisame pouted a little bit. "Well, have you at least eaten breakfast?" He asked.

"Uh, sure," Itachi lied. "Yeah I had…whatever Deidara had."

"Is that why you were watching guy on guy porn?" Martel whispered quietly, so only Itachi could hear her.

Itachi glared at her. "Please don't bring that up," he whispered back. "If you do, Kisame won't leave me alone about it for the next week."

She giggled. "Wow, Kisame sounds like he's your mom." She looked at him. "Anyway, how'd your eyesight get so bad? You stare at the sun or something?"

"Actually," Kisame interrupted, happy he could actually hear this part of the conversation, "Itachi is from the famous Uchiha clan! They have a special bloodline that gives them amazing abilities through the Sharingan! They can copy jutsu and stuff; and Itachi's even taken that further with the Mangekyo Sharingan and can make all this black fire and—"

Martel interrupted him. "I'm sorry, but I lost you by the time you told me that weasel-boy's last name was 'paper fan'."

"Jeez, Kisame," Itachi mumbled uncomfortably, "do you brag about me to all your friends or something?"

Deidara strode in. "Kisame has friends?"

Martel threw a sock at him. She turned toward Itachi. "Anyway, what was he talking about with the whole Magical Kaleidoscope-y Thingamabob?"

Itachi looked at her for a second. _Well_, he thought_, I guess it won't do too much damage if I just do normal version… _"Sharingan…" he said quietly.

Martel gasped. "Holy…" She stared at Itachi's eyes with a look of wonder. Itachi smirked. _Maybe this will at least get her to show me some respect—_

Martel grabbed him and twisted his hair around so she could see his eyes better. "Holy shit! How'd you do that?" She cried. "That's amazing! What the hell is wrong with your eyes? You look fucking possessed!"

"It…it's called the Sharingan—please let go of my hair."

Hidan walked by. "Oh sure, nobody gives a fuck about the fucking immortal, but everyone just fucking needs to see pretty-boy's eyes. They are just so much cooler that the whole fucking concept of immortality. Let's just ignore the fucking immortal and all stare into Itachi's beautiful fucking gaze. Fuck."

"Shut up, Hidan," Kakuzu said, walking over.

Martel rolled her eyes. "And here come the freaks," she mumbled. She let go of Itachi's hair and put her hand on his face, leaning closer. "What are those little dots around your eyes?" She asked, twisting his head sideways.

"They're…um…" Itachi cleared his throat uncomfortably. Why was it that no one in the Akatsuki understood the concept of 'personal space'? And here was this insane girl, inches away from his face, staring at his eyes. "Listen, um, please let go…" He froze and trailed off.

Martel leaned back a little. "Something wrong, weasel-boy?"

He stared at her for a little moment. Then he quickly stood up. He blinked a few times, looking both confused and maybe a little afraid. Then he turned and walked away. As he went, he grabbed the back of Kisame's collar. "You. Come with me. Now."

"I-Is something wring, Itachi'san?" Kisame asked nervously as Itachi dragged him into the other room.

Itachi looked at him. "I can see you!"

Kisame blinked a few times. His face turned slightly purple. "I-Itachi-san, um, if, uh, I mean, well…um, if this is some sort of weird Avatar reference…"

Itachi looked at him. "What…? No!" He practically shouted. "I mean I can seriously see you! Earlier you looked like a blurry dark shape, but I can freaking see you!"

"Oh," Kisame answered, laughing nervously, "that makes more sense. Yeah. Of course." He swallowed uncomfortably. Then he paused. "Wait, you mean like your eyes are feeling better?" Kisame grinned. "That's great, Itachi-san!"

"No it's not," Itachi said, smacking Kisame upside the head. "Come on, Kisame, think. For one thing, it shouldn't even be physically possible for this to happen." He paused. Then he glanced back into the room. Finally he said, "It has something to do with Martel. I know it does."

Kisame sighed. "Come on, Itachi-san, you and I both know that makes even less sense. I'm sure you're just over thinking this."

"Oh really," Itachi mumbled. "Then why don't you explain to me how my eyesight suddenly improved."

Kisame thought for a little while. Finally, he answered, "The magical healing powers of doughnuts?"

"Well you're helpful," Itachi muttered. He turned and walked back into the room.

Martel was chatting with everyone else, who had all walked into the room by then. At the moment, Deidara was talking about how awesome he was. "What's so interesting about Itachi's eyes?" He was saying loudly, sitting down next to her. "I mean, come on, my hands are a thousand times cooler, yeah!"

Martel looked at his palms as he held them in front of her face. "That reminds me," she said smirking, "do your extra tongues have taste buds?"

"I don't give people blowjobs with them!" Deidara shouted angrily.

Martel blinked. "Actually, I was going to ask what your clay tasted like," she replied, trying not to laugh. "Oh, and weasel-boy found your porno in the DVD player."

Deidara blushed. "W-What makes you think that's mine?" He stammered.

Itachi walked over and shoved Deidara off the couch. "Hey Martel," he started.

She smiled at him. "Are you alright, paper fan weasel?" She asked. "Did you start your period or something?" She laughed as Itachi glared angrily at her. "I'm joking," she said, patting his head. "Come on."

Deidara sat up. "Seriously, why the hell does everyone think Itachi is so cool?" He complained. "I'm so much cooler than that stupid jackass. I mean, I'm a freaking terrorist, yeah. And my artwork is amazing! It blows shit up!"

"Hey," Hidan protested, "I'm fucking immortal! Why exactly isn't my name being brought up in this discussion?"

"Tobi is awesome! Tobi wears a mask!"

Everyone glared at Tobi. Then Kakuzu said, "Hell no, I'm cooler that all of you combined. I have five fucking hearts. I mean seriously, beat that."

"I have thousands of puppets laced with deadly incurable poison," Sasori put in.

Kisame shrugged. "Well, I have gills. Those are pretty cool."

"I can reproduce asexually," Zetsu said.

The room went silent at that comment. Everyone looked at Zetsu. Finally, Itachi managed to say, "…Well, that's not creepy in any way…"

Martel leaned back. "Sorry guys, but I think Zetsu is winning so far," she said with a grin.

Itachi sighed. "Listen, Martel, can I talk to you in private?"

Suddenly he was shoved out of the way by everyone else. Hidan grabbed Martel's shoulder. "Come on," he said, "what's cooler: immortality or asexual reproduction?"

"Or art!" Deidara put in.

"Or hearts."

"Or puppets."

"Or gills."

"Or Tobi!"

Martel scooted back a little bit. "Kay…um…that's…" She pushed them back. "You people are starting to make me feel uncomfortable," she replied. She stood up to leave.

Suddenly she collapsed. Itachi, who had been getting up after the others had shoved him, immediately jumped up and caught her. "Are you ok?" He asked.

"Whoa…" she mumbled. "That's weird. My leg just went numb…" She started trying to stand back up, using Itachi to support herself. Then she realized he was holding her. "Ack! What the hell do you think you're doing, you perverted weasel?" She shouted angrily, blushing slightly. She started swatting at him. "Let go of me!"

Itachi let go. She fell to the ground with a thud. "Oww…" She muttered.

Itachi scowled. Then he picked her back up. "Maybe you should go lie down or something," he told her, walking over to his room. The entire time Martel was shouting profanities and insults while swatting at his arms. Itachi dropped her in the bed. "Go to bed or something," he muttered.

She glared at him. "Pervert."

He rolled his eyes and left. Most of the others had left by then, already bored. Itachi sighed. He wasn't going to get a chance to talk to Martel. He glanced at the chart that Kisame had glued to the wall. Tomorrow was their day to keep an eye on her. He'd just have to talk to her then…


	9. Broomsticks

Itachi quickly sat up. He blinked a few times, trying to clear his head, trying to figure out what woke him up. He rubbed his eyes and collapsed backwards on the couch cushions. He looked over at the TV. The small digital clock underneath the screen read eleven twenty-six. He couldn't help staring for a minute or so. It was so clear. Well, not clear; he had to strain extremely hard just to make out the small green numbers. But he could still read them, which was a thousand times better than before.

He scanned the room. His eyes had gotten slightly worse since yesterday, but he could still see most of the room. His eyes landed on two large doughnuts which for some reason were shoved into a clear plastic cup. On it was a small note, reading: _Dear Itachi, I got you some doughnuts to eat for breakfast. Maybe if you eat enough, your eyes will get better! __Your friend, Kisame!_ Under the first few crossed out endings (Love, Affectionately, Sincerely) were a few smiley faces.

Itachi rolled his eyes. "It has nothing to do with the damn doughnuts," he muttered to no one in particular.

There was a loud crash and a yell. Itachi sat back up. He glanced around. That must've been what woke him up. He leapt up and closed his eyes. He could hear someone in the kitchen. He reached into a pocket and grabbed a kunai. Then he slipped into the kitchen.

Inside, Martel and Kisame had destroyed half the kitchen with some brooms. At the moment, they were sword fighting with them. Martel was grinning and parrying all of Kisame's attacks. "Come on, fish-boy," she taunted, "I thought you said you were good at this!"

Kisame scowled. "Excuse me? Before I joined this organization, I happened to be an important member of a prestigious and brutal group of swordsmen." He swung his arm, twisted the broom around and jabbed at her stomach.

Itachi stared at the two of them. "W…What the hell are you guys doing?"

The two of them looked up. Then Martel swung at Kisame's head. Kisame just barely ducked away. "We're just practicing our sword fighting," she answered nonchalantly. "What're you doing?"

Itachi just stood there, groggy and confused. Finally, he sighed. "Maybe I should just stop asking questions in general," he mumbled with a yawn.

Martel laughed and continued swinging at Kisame. "Oh yeah," she said after a minute or so, "didn't you want to ask me something yesterday, weasel-face."

_Yay, a new nickname, _Itachi thought unhappily. He nodded. "Yeah, but if you're busy, I can wait."

She shrugged. "No thanks," she mumbled. "I won't be finished until one of us is dead!"

"We're not fighting to the death!" Kisame complained. "It's practice! Hell, these are brooms! The most that'll happen is you'll end up with a few bruises." With that, he smacked the top of her head and mumbled, "Dead."

She flinched and rubbed her head. Then she said, "Rematch."

Kisame groaned. "Again? We've fought five times, and I've beaten you every single time. Nothing's going to change."

She sighed. "Let me change what I said earlier; I won't be finished until _Kisame_ is dead." With that, she shifted back into a fighting stance.

Itachi smirked slightly and sat down in a chair. "Well, I can suppose I can wait," he said. "Actually, I'm kind of enjoying this."

Kisame scowled. Martel grinned at him. Then she looked back at Kisame. "You know, one time I saw this thing on TV where it said if you poke a shark in the nose, they become all confused and lethargic."

Kisame just looked at her. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever—"

Martel swung the broom and managed to prod Kisame's nose. Kisame froze for a second, blinking a few times. Then he collapsed to the ground.

Itachi immediately stood up. "Jeez. Kisame, are you ok?" He asked, walking over.

"Hagreblagadablahhaayolufrufm…"

Itachi looked at him for a few seconds. Finally, he looked up at Martel and shrugged. "Uh, yeah I think he's fine…" he mumbled, grabbing Kisame's arm and dragging him onto a nearby chair.

Martel giggled slightly. Then she began sweeping the plates that had broken during the fight off the floor. "Man, I feel like you people's personal maid," she complained. "You make such a mess, and I'm the one who cleans it all up."

Itachi looked down at the broken china. "But didn't you and Kisame…?" Martel glared at him. Itachi immediately clamped his mouth shut.

Martel laughed. "Wow, you guys learn fast," she said, continuing to sweep up the pieces.

Itachi looked at her. He'd never really been able to see her all that well before. She'd just been a somewhat blurry silhouette. He hadn't even realized she was a blond. He smiled slightly as a few strands of gold hair fell in her face.

Martel threw out the remains of the plates, brushed the hair out of her eyes, and looked up at him. "So what did you want to talk about, weasel-ass?" She asked him.

Itachi sighed. "Well, I…uh…" Itachi trailed off, realizing how ridiculous he'd sound asking if she fixed his eyesight. "…I just…um…" He frowned. "Well I just… Were you a medical ninja before you…lost your memory…?"

Martel just looked at him. "Oh, yeah, of course I was. Definitely. And in a past life, I was a vegan werewolf. And before that, I was Pablo Picasso. He's the one who cut off his ear, right?"

Itachi scowled. "No need to be sarcastic," he muttered. "And that was Van Gogh."

She shrugged. "Yeah, whatever. But seriously, just imagine how frustrating it would be if you woke up one day and couldn't remember anything. If you didn't know your name, your age, who you are, why you were there…why…" She trailed off.

Itachi looked at her. "Hey," he said, waving his hand in front of her face. "Hey, are you alright?"

She blinked. "Sorry, I just…I don't know…" She frowned and sat down in the chair next to the semiconscious Kisame. "Have you ever felt like you were forgetting something? Something that was important, something you almost remember but when you try to bring it to mind it's just…gone?"

Itachi nodded. "Yeah, I guess."

She stared at the ground. "I…I'm really not sure why, but I just keep feeling déjà vu." She sighed. "It's probably nothing…" She glanced at Kisame. "Hey sushi-for-brains, are you alive?"

"Do a barrel roll…!"

Itachi shook his head. "Martel, déjà vu is a good thing! It means you're remembering things! Alright, what were you feeling déjà vu about?"

"Just…" She started thinking. "Maybe about the memory shit…" She closed her eyes.

Itachi watched her as she thought. _Maybe she could be a princess, _he thought with a laugh, _though she certainly doesn't act the part._

Martel opened one eye. "You know, it's kinda hard to think with a weasel staring at you." Itachi blinked, realizing that he was staring at her. He looked away, suddenly embarrassed. She watched him. "Wait, isn't your eyesight bad?"

"Uh…yeah…it's terrible," he lied. _Why the hell am I lying? _He thought, confused. _This is making it worse._

Martel sighed. "You Akatsuki-psychos are…well…psychos." She stood up. "Whatever, I'm going to go clean shit up," she decided, walking away.

Itachi groaned. _Damn it, _he thought bitterly. _No matter what I do, I just seem to go nowhere. I still know just as much about her as the day we met. Damn it. _He took a deep breath. He poked Kisame's shoulder.

Kisame sat up. "Where am I? What's going on? Who are you? Where did my doughnut go?" He blinked a few times then looked up at Itachi. "Oh, Itachi-san, when did you get there?"

Itachi rolled his eyes. "Kisame, I'm going to go run some errands. Keep an eye on Martel." He pulled out a cell phone and dialed Kisuke's number.

"Okay, Itachi-san," Kisame mumbled groggily. "Don't do drugs."


	10. Migraine

Itach sat on a barstool and waited. And waited. And waited some more. It had been three days since he'd started trying to call Kisuke. There hadn't been an answer. Itachi was starting to wonder if Kisuke had gotten himself killed. It wouldn't have been that surprising, just slightly disappointing. Itachi glanced around the bar again. And waited.

After several hours, Itachi started heading back, tired and dissapointed. When he walked into the base, Kisame looked over at him. "Itachi-san! You're back!" He hopped off of the small table he'd been sitting on and strode over. Then he paused and looked closely at Itachi's face. "Is something wrong, Itachi-san?"

Itachi looked at him. "No, I'm good," he answered. "Why?"

Kisame frowned. "You just have this look on your face…" he looked closer, making Itachi start to feel uncomfortable. Finally, Kisame said, "I got it! You look disappointed. Did you go on a bad date? Did you get stood up? You want me to kill someone?"

"Kisame, if I truly wanted someone dead, I'd do it myself."

"True…" Kisame muttered.

The two of them strode into the next room. On the couch were Kakuzu and Deidara, caught up in a violent quarrel as to whether or not to buy things from infomercials.

"But we're out of my favorite nail polish!" Deidara was protesting. "Come on. Just let me borrow some money! I'll pay you back! It's only thirty-two bucks! I NEED THE ONYX BLACK NAIL POLISH NOW!

Kakuzu started strangling him with his tentacle-like strings. "No way in fucking hell," he replied. "You're the one who always borrows money and never pays any of it back. Give me back my fifteen thousand dollars and we'll talk."

Kisame snickered. "Yeah and he make fun of me for acting gay—oh my gosh look at all those hairdryers!" He shouted halfway through what he was saying, sitting down on the couch next to the others and staring at the TV screen. "…must…buy…"

Itachi rolled his eyes and walked into the kitchen. Martel was cleaning a large red puddle off the ground with a mop, and Hidan's head was jammed inside the oven. Itachi looked from one to the other. "Um, do I want to know…?"

"No," Martel muttered quietly, "probably not."

Itachi poked Hidan's unconscious body with his toe a few times. Then he walked over to the puddle she was cleaning. "You stab him or something?"

Martel glared up at him. Her face was pale, and she had dark circles beneath her eyes. She grabbed the top of the mop to steady herself as she swayed slightly back and forth.

Itachi grabbed her arm. "Whoa. Are you alright?" He asked, steadying her. "You look…sick."

She stared blankly at him for a few seconds. Then she blinked sleepily a few times and muttered, "Wait, I thought you were blind or something…"

"Well I'm not completely blind," he replied. "I can still see that you look like shit."

"Oh, gee, thanks," she mumbled, pulling her arm away. "You're so polite, weasel-brain. Girls definitely like hearing…" Suddenly, she doubled over slightly, grabbing her head and gasping a little bit. Itachi grabbed her arm again. She blinked a few times dizzily. "I'm fine. Just…a migraine…"

Itachi sat her down in a chair. "Here, I'll go get you an Ibuprofen or something," he said. He turned and started walking away.

"Wait…" she murmured faintly. Suddenly she jumped to her feet, knocking over the chair. "Wait, Itachi!" She screamed in a strangled voice.

Itachi turned around, as Martel collapsed to the floor.

He stared at her for a second. The he ran over. "Martel?" He asked, grabbing her shoulder and shaking her arm. Her eyes stared blankly ahead. They were glassy and empty. "Martel! Martel, are you alright?" He shouted. She didn't respond.

Itachi stood up. "Guys!" He shouted loudly. There was no answer. "Guys! Hello? Somebody, get the hell in here!" There was still nothing. "DAMN IT, SOMEBODY GET THE FUCK IN HERE!"

Kisame peaked inside. "Is something wrong, Itachi-san?"

Itachi grabbed his arm and dragged him over. "W-What's wrong with her?" Itachi asked.

Kisame stared at her for a few seconds. Then he bent down. "Martel?" He flipped her onto her back and felt her pulse. "Ok, um, her heart rate seems to be slowing down," he muttered nervously.

By then, several other Akatsuki members had started to peek inside. Hidan pulled his head out of the oven, looking dazed. Deidara and Kakuzu looked through the doorway curiously.

Itachi ignored them. "So what's wrong with her?" He asked Kisame.

Kisame glanced up. "Itachi-san, the most medical training I ever received was learning how to be a lifeguard when I was sixteen. If she needed mouth-to-mouth, I might be able to figure out what I'm doing, but other than that, I got nothing."

Itachi looked around. His eyes fell on Kakuzu. "You help with medical stuff sometimes. Can't you do anything?"

Kakuzu rolled his eyes. "The only shit I know how to do is to either sow a body part back on or remove her heart," he muttered dryly. "You want me to try either of those?"

Itachi grimaced. "Damn it." He looked around at the others. "Does anyone know any medical shit? Anything at all?" He was answered with silence. He looked down at Martel. He felt her forehead. "Jeez, she's ice cold," he murmured. He took off his cloak and wrapped it around her. Then he picked her up and carried her into the closest bedroom.

He set her on the bed. Everyone else followed, with Deidara grumbling quietly about everyone cramming into his room. Itachi glared at them. "Unless any of you have any idea how to fix this, go away," he growled. He looked back at Martel.

Martel had begun shivering violently. Itachi felt her forehead with the back of his hand. She still felt like ice. And her lips had started turning blue. _This makes no sense. _Itachi thought frantically. _What the hell kind of disease could do this?_

As he pulled away, his hand started tingling.

Itachi looked at it for a second. "What the…?" He muttered. He flexed his hand a few times. His fingers had gone completely numb.

The rest of the Akatsuki had managed squeezed themselves in behind him, except Zetsu, who'd strangely been absent. Kakuzu and Sasori were looking curiously at the unconscious girl on the bed. Deidara was shoved unhappily into a corner.

Tobi shoved through the crowd of Akatsuki members. "What happened?" He asked. "Is she having a seizure? Is she giving birth? Was she eaten by a whale? What's going on?"

Itachi scowled at him. "Tobi, all of those statements are completely ridiculous," he told Tobi disdainfully. "Try thinking before you speak." The tingling sensation had spread to about his elbow.

"Itachi-san," Kisame said quietly, noticing Itachi trying to flex his arm. "Are you ok?"

"I-I'm fine," Itachi answered, gingerly rubbing his numb arm. The tingling had spread to his shoulder. "My…my arm just fell asleep…"

Hidan scowled. "So nobody knows what's wrong with her?" He asked. "Fuck. I wanted to kill her myself. Well, maybe this is Karma of some sort for making fun of me, bitch."

Kakuzu rolled his eyes. "Does your religion even believe in Karma?" He asked. He looked at Martel again. "Damn, if she dies, we're all screwed."

Itachi glared at them. "You two are being assholes," he muttered. "Will you two—"

The tingling reached his chest. Suddenly, he couldn't breathe. He grabbed his chest. He tried to take a breath, but his lungs refused to work.

"Itachi-san," Kisame asked, "what's wrong?"

Itachi turned toward him. He tried to say something, anything, but he couldn't speak. The tingling spread further. His legs went numb and he collapsed forward onto his knees. The corners of his vision were going dark.

"Itachi-san!"

The voice was distant and muted. Itachi looked up, trying desperately to draw a breath, to scream. Everything was blurry and muted. Stars started flashing in front of his eyes.

Then he felt himself falling forward…


	11. White Rabbit

Itachi hit the ground with a loud thud. He gasped, and air began refilling his lungs. He lay there on the floor, gasping and panting, as his vision slowly began to clear. Then he shut his eyes and dizzily sat up. "That was anticlimactic," he muttered groggily, rubbing his head. "Jeez, did I just faint?" He was met with silence. "Kisame…?" Itachi cracked open his eye.

He was in a long empty stone hallway. The floor was wet, as were the walls and ceiling. There were cracks stretching the length of the wall, and liquid was dripping from an old rusty pipe in the ceiling. The building looked abandoned.

Itachi blinked. "What the…?" He stood up and looked around. Odder than the fact that he was in a random hallway was the fact that he could see so clearly. He could make out every individual detail on the wall, every drop of water from the ceiling. It seemed almost surreal.

"Kisame?" Itachi called. He could faintly hear his voice echo down the hall. "Hello? Is anyone here?" It was silent accept the faint echo. Itach sighed and began walking forward.

He noticed a rusty steel door up ahead. He walked over and yanked on the knob. Locked. He pulled again. "Shit," he murmured. He took a step back and began weaving hand signs. But when he tried to use a fire jutsu, nothing happened. "What the hell?" He tried to bring up his Sharingan. Still nothing. He frowned and tried to focus his chakra. Still, nothing happened.

Itachi sighed unhappily and began walking again. He shivered. He folded his arms together, wishing he was wearing his nice warm cloak. But of course, he had given that to Martel. "Damn it," he mumbled to himself, noticing he could see his breath.

He strode down the hallway, trying to keep calm. There were other hallways attached to the one he was in, but they all looked the same. Itachi frowned. Maybe he could make 'bread crumbs', so as not to get lost. (Well, more lost.)

He reached into his kunai pouch, then froze. There was nothing there. He must've dropped his kunai knives when giving his cloak to Martel. He'd have to use something else to make bread crumbs.

He bit into his thumb, drawing blood. Then he slowly drew an arrow on the wall. _There, _he thought, _now I might be able to figure out where I'm going…_

He walked through the hallways for hours, drawing arrows where he needed them, silently praying for someone to be in the empty building. It wasn't any kind of building he'd seen before, since it didn't seem to have a purpose. But every once in a while he'd pass a broken door leading to an empty room, or what almost looked to be a jail cell.

He continued walking. Then he froze. On the wall was a bloody arrow. "Son of a bitch," he growled. "I just went in a circle." He groaned and leaned against the wall.

Then he noticed a small bloody handprint underneath the arrow he'd drawn. He blinked, startled. Then he leaned down and looked closely at it. The handprint was small, made by a child. And it still looked fresh.

There was a small gasp. Itachi spun around. Standing at the end of the hallway was a little girl in a torn, dirty, bloodstained dress that looked like it had once been white. Her face was grimy and her long blond hair looked like it hadn't been cut for years. Her blue eyes stared at him, terrified.

They stared at each other for a minute. Itachi slowly turned, and the girl tensed up, ready to run at any moment. "Hey there," Itachi said slowly. "Don't be afraid." He slowly held up his hands, showing he didn't have anything in them. "It's ok. I'm not going to hurt you…" He took a step forward.

He slipped in a small puddle and stumbled forward. The girl yelped and sprinted away. "Wait!" Itachi shouted. He ran after her. "Wait! Come back!"

Itachi chased after her. She glanced frantically over her shoulder and skidded round a corner. "Wait!" He called again and dashed around the corner.

The girl had fallen to the ground. Behind her was a large cell. It was old and rusty. More than that, the entire door had been torn off its hinges, lying broken in a corner.

Itachi paused and ran over. He bent down. "Kid, are you alright?" He asked quietly, grabbing her shoulder. "Please, don't run. I'm not going to hurt you."

The girl slowly looked up at him, tears streaming down her face. Suddenly, her shadow rose up and engulfed her. Itachi jumped back and fell. "What the fuck!" He yelped, as it started blindly groping for him. It grabbed onto his arm, and it felt as if it caught fire.

There was a bright flash of light. He felt the fire slip away from his arm. "Let go of him," a calm voice said. Itachi looked up. Standing in between him and the shadow was an adolescent girl, maybe thirteen, with messy red hair. "Leave us alone," she told the shadow, like an adult scolding a child. The shadow seemed to glare at her for a moment, then slowly sunk into the ground.

Itachi stared at the girl for a moment. Then, he asked, "What the hell just happened?"

The girl turned. She had bright green eyes and a single white-pink section in the center of her bangs. "Get up," she said. "We need to get going."

Itachi obediently stood. "No seriously, what the hell just happened?" He repeated, shakily walking forward. "What was that thing? Who are you?"

"Later," she told him. "We need to leave."

The two of them quickly strode down the hallway. Itachi glanced over at the girl. After turning down a few hallways, he slowed down. "Ok, who are you? Where am I? What's going on?"

She sighed and glanced sidelong at him. "Itachi, please, we don't have time for this. It's possible we're being followed as we speak."

"Well, I don't particularly care. I—" Itachi froze, realizing what she'd just said. "You…know my name…?"

She smiled slightly. "Strange, huh?" She slowed down. "Alright, I guess I could try to explain…" She sighed. "My name is Rose." Rose thought for a second. "Well, at least, that's what everyone calls me."

Itachi rolled his eyes. "Alright then…'Rose'…how do you know my name?"

She shrugged. "Therein lies the problem, huh," she answered with a smile.

Itachi scowled and grabbed Rose's collar. "Listen, kid, I am _not_ in the mood for this shit. I'm cold, tired, confused out of my mind, and have absolutely no idea where I am. Either you explain to me what the hell is going on or I pound you into the ground."

She just sighed. "I'm sorry; I just don't think I can explain everything right now." She looked up at him. Then her eyes soften slightly. "…but…I think I know something that might help…" She smiled.

Then she reached into her shirt and pulled out a small crystalline key, dangling from a small gold chain. She pulled it over her head and placed it into Itachi's hand. "Take this," she murmured. "It should be able to tell you something…"

Itachi stared at the key. It was small and warm, and glowed a luminescent silver. "Wait, what does this thing—" Itachi looked up to see Rose had disappeared. "…open…?" He frowned. "What the…? Son of a bitch."

He looked around. There was no sign of Rose. She had just disappeared. He slowly turned and walked down the hallway. He paused and looked over at a door he was passing. The small keyhole was glowing slightly. Then same color as the key. He placed the key inside; a perfect fit. He turned the key, and sighed to himself, "And down the rabbit hole I go…"

…

_There was a large green meadow, full of bright colored flowers. They swayed gently in the summer breeze. A single cloud floated through the blindingly blue sky, like a boat drifting with the current. A few birds chirped nearby._

Itachi looked around. "What the hell?" He asked. He turned around. There was a doorway in the center of the field, behind him. Through the open doorway, he could see the grey hallway. He blinked and looked back around.

_Two girls were nearby. The first girl had dirty red hair, with a pink clump of hair in the front. She was limping, with the other girl on her back. The smaller girl had long blond hair. Both were wearing the same tattered, bloody white dresses._

Itachi watched as the two passed by. Rose. That was the older girl's name. And the other girl was the one he'd chased after earlier. He walked after them. _"Hey!" he called. _He froze. His voice seemed to echo. And neither of them seemed to notice him.

He walked faster. _"Hey, can you hear me?" He asked. _Again, neither of them responded. He grabbed Rose's shoulder._ His hand just passed through._ He yelped and drew back. _"W-What the hell was that?" _He shook his head and walked in front of them. Were they ghosts? Was he a ghost? Why did the blond girl look familiar…?

"_Rose?" The little girl timidly whispered._

_Rose glanced up at her. "How're you feeling?" She asked with a sad smile._

"_I…" she glanced down, looking unsure of what to say. "Rose…" she finally whispered, "…you're hurt too…" She looked at the blood on Rose's leg._

_Rose forced a smile. "I'm fine," she replied quickly. "And anyway, I thought I told you to call me 'Nee-chan'."_

Itachi slowed to a stop. He started looking around the field. He could see a few trees sparsely lining the horizon in either direction. He glanced behind him. For some reason, that direction looked faded, like the one time Kisame accidentally bleached Itachi's pants.

Itachi squinted. _"Why does it look like the fading is moving?" He asked quietly. But for some reason, the faded area was moving. It grew bigger, until the entire horizon was white. And the white kept spreading. It slowly crept forward. Then Itachi started feeling like he was falling through the ground. It seemed like it was disappearing._

Itachi quickly retreated back toward the girls. _"What was that?" He wondered aloud._

_Before he could think about it any longer, a large shadowy figure slowly rose up in front of them. The younger girl screamed. Rose dropped her and drew a sword and held it in front of her. "Get out of here! Run!"_

_The white seemed to surround the two girls. _Itachi walked forward slightly.

_The little girl, looking terrified out of her mind, stood and pulled out a knife. "No!" She shouted. "I'm not leaving you, Nee-chan! I won't do it!"_

_Rose shoved her back, as the shadow lunged and knocked the two of them back. "Damn it!" She shouted. "I'm not kidding!" The shadow grabbed Rose and yanked her back. "Damn it, Martel, run!"_

Itachi blinked. "M…Martel…?"

Martel froze and looked up. _She walked forward, knife held in front of her. "Let go of her, you fucking bastard!" _She slowly walked toward Itachi.

Itachi just stared. "W-Why are there two of you?" He stammered, confused. He looked from one to the other.

"Why are you here?" Martel asked. Her voice was almost even, but he could hear it shaking underneath. "What are you doing here?"

_The shadow leapt forward and grabbed Martel's throat. Her cut off scream echoed, and the white began engulfing the two of them. Blood trickled down her throat._

Itachi looked from one to the other. Then it hit him. "This is a memory," he murmured. "This is _your_ memory, your mind, your…your…" He looked back at the now empty white space.

Martel shook her head. "You shouldn't be here," she said quietly. Then she was gone too. And Itachi was falling through empty space.


	12. Just a Dream

Itachi opened his eyes. He was lying in his bed. It was pitch black. He blinked a few times. Then he rubbed his eyes and sat up, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the dark. He could faintly make out some furniture in the dark shadows.

He sighed and lay back down. _Well, that was by far the strangest dream I've ever had, _he thought. He rolled over and pulled the covers higher over his head.

He froze when he felt someone next to him. He blinked a few times. Then he sat up again. "M…Martel…?" He asked, confused. He reached out and brushed his fingers against her cheek. Then he scowled and pinched his arm. "Well, I'm awake…I think…" he murmured.

He heard something move nearby. He swung around, reaching for a kunai. Then he remembered they were gone.

Before he could do anything else, something large tackled him and wrapped him in a bear hug.

"ITACHI-SAN! YOU'RE ALIVE! YOU'RE ALIVE!" Kisame shouted, hugging him tightly and pressing his face against Itachi's.

Itachi sat there, startled at Kisame's voice. "Kisame…? Um, yes, I'm alive…?" He tried to push Kisame away. "Kisame, you're crushing my spine. Please let go."

Kisame let go. "Oh, sorry Itachi-san," he said, wiping his eyes. "It's just…I was so worried…" He gave him another hug. "Never do that again!"

Itachi pushed him back. "Never do what again? Pass out? Would I really be able to control that?" He paused. "By the way, what exactly happened?"

Kisame frowned. "Well, you and Martel were sick or something. It wasn't any disease we'd ever heard of, so we kidnapped a doctor!" He held up a photo of Deidara and Hidan making peace signed next to an extremely terrified-looking Shizune. "Turns out she had no idea what was wrong with you either," he continued, putting the photo in his pocket. "We were all so worried."

Itachi cast him a skeptical look. Kisame shrugged. "Ok, maybe not everyone," he said, "but Konan and Leader-sama showed up a few times!" He looked toward the door. "Actually, I think Konan and Leader-sama are asleep in their rooms for once."

Itachi sighed. Then he remembered the girl sleeping next to him. "Wait, what's Martel doing in my room?" he glanced toward her. "Sleeping in my bed…?"

Kisame glanced over. "Oh, well after you caught whatever Martel had, Deidara got all germaphobic, so they quarantined you two in here."

Itachi rolled his eyes. "Oh yes. They all must've been so worried about me."

Kisame just gave Itachi another hug. Itachi glared at him. "Kisame, what did we talk about personal space?" He muttered darkly.

Kisame thought for a second. "Um, do not barge in while you're showering!"

Itachi face palmed. "No!" He glanced up and noticed Kisame's face had turned purple. Then he realized what he'd said. "I mean, yes, stay out while I'm showering, but aside from that I don't like being hugged, touched, or anything else along those lines. I have a personal space bubble, and you keep popping it."

Kisame sighed. "I'm sorry. Itachi-san…" He replied, looking slightly dejected.

The door burst open. "I'm trying to sleep, you assholes!"Deidara shouted groggily. "Shut your damn mouths, yeah!"

Kisame glared at him. "You're the one shouting," he replied. Deidara just flipped him off.

Itachi stood up. "Whatever," he mumbled, grabbing his cloak off the floor nearby and pulling it on. Then he noticed he was wearing his pajamas (otherwise known as boxers). "When the hell did I get changed?"

Kisame turned purple again. "O-Oh, y-you were like that when you passed out. Remember?"

"Not really…" Itachi answered wearily.

Deidara blinked. "Oh, hey, Itachi woke up," he mumbled sleepily. He rubbed his eyes. "Hey Kisame, maybe your mouth to mouth worked—"

There was a loud crash as Kisame elbowed Deidara through a wall. Itachi, who hadn't been listening, jumped. "What the hell?"

"Nothing!" Kisame answered, even though Itachi hadn't really asked a question that call for an answer. "Nothing, Itachi-san." Then he paused. "Hey, Itachi-san, how long have you had that necklace?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Itachi asked, feeling confused. He cast a quick glance down.

Hanging around his neck was a gold chain with a small silver key on the end.

Itachi stared blankly at it. He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. He slowly reached up and grabbed it, still staring. It was slightly duller that it had been in his dream, but was definitely the same.

"Itachi-san?" Kisame asked, looking worried. "Itachi-san, are you ok? What's wrong?"

Deidara yawed. "Maybe he's having a seizure or something…hn…" With one last sleepy grunt, he strode out. "Just be quiet."

Kisame walked over and grabbed Itachi's shoulder. "Itachi-san, are you ok?" He repeated.

Itachi's head shot up. "Huh? Oh, um…it's nothing…" he replied. He quickly tucked the key under his cloak. Kisame just watched him, curious.

Itachi sat down on his bed. He rubbed his head. "Hey, Kisame, I'm starting to get a headache. Can you leave?"

"Ok Itachi-san!" Kisame said brightly. "I hope you feel better!" He gave Itachi one more spine-crushing hug then happily walked out.

Itachi sighed and rubbed his back. Kisame was definitely one of the strangest people Itachi had ever met. Even if he was to look like a normal person, his personality was just as strange. Itachi wondered why Kisame had been in his room in the first place.

He looked over at Martel, who hadn't so much as moved. Itachi frowned and grabbed a hand mirror, and held it in front of Martel's mouth, just to check if she was still breathing. Then he sat down next to her.

The key he'd gotten from his dream hung around his neck. He watched her and grabbed the key, feeling very confused. Finally, he murmured, "Who are you…?"

"I'm Martel." Itachi jumped. Martel opened one eye a crack. "You brain dead or something, Weasel-boy?" She asked sleepily. "Who the hell else would I be?"

"Jeez, I thought you were asleep," Itachi said. "How're you feeling? Your 'migraine' gone?"

She blinked a few times. "What are you talking about…?" She mumbled, shivering.

Itachi scowled at her and handed her a blanket. "What, you mean you don't remember?" He asked as she indignantly pulled the blanket around herself. "You passed out. Remember?"

Martel just looked at him blankly. "Weasel-boy, are you high?"

Itachi sighed. She didn't act any different. He'd secretly been hoping she'd wake up and act even the slightest bit kinder. He looked closely at her. In the back of his mind, he could still see the terrified blond girl staring up at him. He frowned. "Martel, do you remember anything? About your past?"

"Huh?" She slowly sat up. "Why the hell would I randomly remember—" Suddenly she gasped in pain and grabbed her side. Itachi grabbed her shoulder. "Why is my body so sore…?" She moaned unhappily. She glanced up at him. "Did you do anything while I was asleep? Pervert…"

"What? No! Of course not! I'd never do anything like that."

She sighed. "Yeah, yeah, whatever…" She leaned back down. "Sorry, but I'm sleeping here tonight I guess," she mumbled with a yawn. She shut her eyes and fell back asleep.

"Great," Itachi replied sarcastically. He stretched and tried to stand back up. His body was completely sore too. He flinched and slowly laid back. Even though he really hadn't been doing anything, he felt exhausted. He yawned and slowly closed his eyes.

He'd just wait until tomorrow to try to figure out what was going on.


	13. Breakfast

Itachi yawned and slowly sat up. His body was aching and his head was throbbing. He rubbed his head gingerly and turned to see if Martel was awake. She was gone. He sighed and slowly stood up.

He walked out of the room and glanced around. He could hear a ton of people in the kitchen. That was usually the case when Konan was at the base, since she and Kisame were the only members of the Akatsuki who actually knew how to cook, and Kisame's cooking skills were limited to sandwiches, pancakes, and an assortment of seafood that only he seemed to like (partially because the others were afraid to eat it).

He walked into the kitchen to see Hidan, Deidara, and Kakuzu all sitting at the table, while Konan was making breakfast. Itachi sat down next to them.

Hidan looked up. "Hey, it's alive!" He called out. "It's fucking alive! It's a fucking miracle!"

Itachi rolled his eyes and flipped him off. _Yup, they really missed me, _he thought to himself, sighing. "What's for breakfast?" He asked Konan.

Suddenly, Deidara launched some eggs from his fork at Itachi. He easily dodged them and glared at Deidara. "Oh, eggs," he muttered. "Thanks for telling me, Deidara."

Suddenly, the room burst into hysterical laughter. Itachi jumped and looked around. "What did I…?" Deidara was laughing the hardest. But wait, it wasn't Deidara, but…

"Martel?" Itachi asked incredulously. He glanced around, and noticed the real Deidara with his hair down glaring daggers at him from across the room. He looked back at Martel. "Why the hell are you cross dressing as a girl?" He asked, as Konan handed him some breakfast.

Hidan grabbed Martel's shoulders. "Because they're fucking the same!" He roared, still laughing. "They could be fucking twins! Look at 'em!" He grabbed Martel and turned her head toward Itachi. Martel just smiled sweetly.

Itachi frowned and looked closely at her. "Well, sure they have the same hair and eye colors, but their faces are different, Martel has blue-er eyes, and anyway, Deidara still looks a little more masculine."

Deidara walked over, scowling, and yanked his hair tie out of Martel's hair. "Hear that? I'm masculine, bitches!" He pulled the top of his hair into a half ponytail.

Sasori walked in. "No you're not," he answered without even looking up. "You're just more masculine than the only blond girl we could find." Deidara scowled at him and stuck out a hand-tongue in his direction.

Itachi sighed. The entire organization seemed to act like immature children except maybe him, Konan, and Pein. He started eating the food Konan had given him.

As he did Pein and Kisame strode into the room. Kisame grinned. "Itachi-san, you're awake! How're you feeling?" He sat down next to Itachi. Although it wasn't like they had assigned seats at the table, they always out of habit sat next to their partner. Each person had a chair they sat in out of habit. Kisame sat next to Itachi, Konan and Pein sat together, and Deidara's chair at one point had belonged to Orochimaru. (The exception was Kakuzu and Hidan, who were assigned seats at opposite ends after last month's little…'incident'…)

Pein looked over at Itachi. "Oh, you're awake. Good," he said. "I was hoping you'd get up soon. A lot of work has been piling up in your absence." He turned and left to grab some things.

"Wonderful," Itachi replied. _Yup, they must've REALLY missed me._

He cast a glance over to Martel, who had stolen Deidara's seat, which just happened to be next to Hidan. He still couldn't help but be amazed at how well she got along with the others. Even if she happened to threaten Hidan every couple of minutes, he still was able to hold a conversation with her.

"So, Hidan, how exactly do your human sacrifices work?" Martel asked the silver-haired man with a smirk.

Hidan just scowled at her. "Well that's none of your business now is it?" He replied, shoving food angrily into his mouth.

"Sure," she answered. "So how come they need to be virgins?"

"Well they don't—" Suddenly Hidan started choking, realizing what she meant. "T-That's not—" he coughed a few times, trying to breathe. "That's—ack—" he finally gasped and fell out of his chair, trying to dislodge some sort of food from his windpipe.

Martel just giggled. "Wow," she replied. "You guys are fun to mess with." She turned toward Kakuzu. "Hey Kakuzu, can I borrow some money?"

"No."

"Aw, come on. Pretty please?"

Kakuzu just glared at her from the other side of the table. Martel scowled at him. "You're mean," she responded. Then she leaned back. "Just as well, the wallet I stole from your room earlier was empty anyway."

Kakuzu froze, dropping the fork he'd been holding. "W…What?"

"Yeah, I know, right?" She said turning away to hide the smirk playing across her face. "Weird. I thought you were the one in charge of the Akatsuki's finances, but I suppose I was wrong…"

There was a loud crash as Kakuzu sprinted out of the room, knocking Pein into a wall. Pein glared at him and continued into the kitchen. "I'm just going to assume I don't want to know," he murmured. His eyes caught Itachi. "Oh, right, Itachi, you and Kisame are going to be doing double the work to make up for the week you were out. Here are your missions."

Itachi sighed. He went back to eating his breakfast as Pein handed the files to Kisame.

Pein turned toward the others. "Deidara, Sasori, you two are going to be stealing a scroll." Sasori nodded, while Deidara gave a little grunt. Pein continued. "Hidan, you and Kakuzu are going to assassinate some political figures." He handed Hidan some papers. "And Zetsu—" He turned and realized that Zetsu wasn't there. "Where is…?"

Konan glanced at him. "You don't remember?" She asked, handing him a plate of food. "His dinner the other day made Deidara throw up, so we kicked him out."

"Right." He walked into the other room that they'd set aside for Zetsu's 'meals'.

Sasori grabbed a newspaper off the floor and began reading. "Hey, would you look at that, Orochimaru made the front cover again."

Itachi shivered at the name. Although he hated to talk about it to the other members (or anyone for that matter) he'd had some violent and uncomfortable encounters with that snake. (Come on, there are cameras in his room, for God's sake. What do you think?) He shuddered again.

Kisame patted Itachi's shoulder.

Deidara looked up. "Oh yeah, that's the guy I replaced, right?" He asked with a mouth full of food. "So what's he in the paper for?"

"Oh, the usual: murder, conspiracy, many people's suspicions of his secret desire to become a woman…oh and apparently he got another ninja to come with him from Konoha or something. Someone by the name of Sasuke—"

There was a loud crash as Itachi leapt across the table and yanked the paper out of the puppet's hands. "WHAT?"

Sasori blinked, his hands now empty. "Um…can I help you, Itachi?"

Itachi stared at the paper for a few seconds. Then he turned. "N…Nothing," he mumbled. "Sorry." He quickly sat back down, staring at the ground trying to not look like he was panicking.

Martel just watched him. Then she asked "Who's this Orochimaru guy?"

Sasori sighed. "He used to be my partner."

"Oh." Martel looked over at Itachi again. Then she looked back at the puppet. "Life partner, or just—"

"No we were not gay for each other," he answered angrily. "In fact, I'm fairly sure he's only interested in boys under the age of sixteen."

"…oh…"

Pein walked back in. "You guys are still here?" He asked quietly. "I thought I gave you all jobs to do."

The others immediately got up and left. Martel sighed. "Great. So does that leave me with plant guy?"

Itachi froze halfway out the door. He turned toward Pein. "Are you sure that's a safe idea?" He asked quickly. "Zetsu isn't going to do anything to her, right?"

Pein glared at him. "First of all, I trust Zetsu," he replied, "and it's my job to make sure the girl stays safe, not yours."

"Um, I'm right here you know."

Itachi scowled. "But what if he tries to eat her or something?" He asked suspiciously. (For the record, Itachi had always been kind of nervous around Zetsu since he learned that he was cannibalistic. [He learned this by watching Zetsu eat breakfast.])

Pein continued to glare at him. "Itachi, leave. You have work to do." Pein turned to go as well. "And why does it even matter to you?" He added.

"Seriously. Right here. Listening to every word you say."

"That's—" Itachi froze. Now that he really thought about it, why did it matter to him all that much. He looked over at Martel. Why did he care so much?

Kisame grabbed Itachi's arm. "Come on, Itachi-san, let's go!"

Martel waved. "Bye weasel-boy!" She called. Then she turned back toward Pein. "Oh, Leader dude, just how many of those piercings you got?"


	14. Interesting

Itachi and Kisame were walking down a road toward their next mission. It had been several days since they'd begun catching up with the missions they'd had to miss while Itachi was comatose. Although Itachi wouldn't let Kisame notice, he was exhausted. They'd had several assassination missions and a few 'steal some important items from some guy they'd never heard of' missions, all of which had required some sort of use of his eyes. They'd also been attacked three times already (although Itachi didn't have to do too much with those since Kisame usually wiped out the assassins immediately).

The two of them walked down the road slowly. Itachi stared up at the blurry sky. His mind began to wander.

_Wonder what Martel is doing, _he thought. _I hope Zetsu hasn't done anything…although by now, Hidan and Kakuzu should be back… _He paused, blinking a few times. _W…Why does that even matter? _He wondered.

"Itachi-san?"

Itachi was snapped out of his thoughts by his partner's voice. "Huh?"

"You stopped walking," Kisame told him, his eyes and voice laced in concern. "Is something wrong?"

Itachi looked at Kisame, startled to realize that he had, in fact, stopped walking. "Oh… I didn't even notice," he answered. He walked forward and caught up to Kisame.

The two of them continued walking. Then Kisame said, "Itachi-san, are you feeling alright?" Itachi didn't answer. Kisame frowned. "Itachi-san," he pressed. Still no answer. "Listen, Itachi-san, you've been sick for a few days. Are you tired?" Itachi still didn't even seem to hear Kisame. "ITACHI!"

Itachi jumped and turned toward Kisame. "Huh? You say something?" He asked. He hadn't even realized Kisame was talking. He'd been too immersed in his thoughts.

Kisame sighed. "Itachi-san, maybe we should rest for a bit." When he was met with a blank stare, he scowled. "You're tired. We should take a break."

Itachi shrugged. "If I'm tired, you should let me sleep in more often," he answered.

Kisame rolled his eyes. "Itachi-san, it's extremely unhealthy for people to get used to sleeping in until noon. It'll make you even more sick than you are now. Remember, early to bed, early to rise—"

"—makes Itachi want to gouge out his eyes," Itachi retorted before he could finish.

Kisame blinked a few times and laughed. "Nice," he giggled. "You just think of that?" Itachi ignored him. "Hey, Itachi-san, have I told you about that dream, where we all spoke in rhymes?"

Itachi rolled his eyes. "Yes, Kisame, you've told me twelve times."

They both froze for a second. Then Kisame decided to change the subject as quickly as possible. "So, Itachi-san, you've become a lot more talkative recently, you know that?"

"Huh…?" Itachi began to drift off again.

"Yeah," he continued with a grin, not realizing Itachi had stopped listening to him. "You know, I'm not completely sure why, but I feel like I need to thank Martel for that."

Itachi's head shot up. "What?"

Kisame nodded. "Since you've started trying to figure out who she is and stuff, you've really been more open."

Itachi just looked at him for a second. "Oh… I…didn't notice…" he answered slowly. To be honest, he'd actually been enjoying himself more than he had in a long time. And even though she was rude and obnoxious, he did enjoy her company. She could also be kind at times.

And she definitely was the most beautiful person he'd ever seen…

Itachi froze mid-step. _W-What the hell? _He wondered frantically. _Where the hell did that thought come from?_

"Itachi-sa—"

"I-I'm fine," Itachi stammered quickly, walking forward. "Let's go."

Kisame just looked at him and followed after him. Finally, he said, "Um, Itachi-san…are you alright…?" Itachi ignored him. "Itachi-san…your face is red. Did you get sunburned?"

Itachi stiffened and walked faster. "Let's just finish."

…

Itachi sat on the edge of his hotel bed trying to clean the fresh blood off of his cloak. It wasn't that the blood bothered him; he just wanted some sort of menial task to focus on. Something to keep his mind from wandering…

Kisame walked out of the bathroom, stretching. "Oh man, that was a good shower," he mumbled. He looked over at Itachi. "Itachi-san, you gonna take a shower? They have fancy soaps."

"Interesting," Itachi murmured, not listening in the least bit.

Kisame sighed. "Well, we're gonna head back tomorrow," he said. He watched Itachi for a minute. "You know, it'd probably easier to clean it off when we get back."

"Interesting," Itachi murmured, not listening in the least bit.

Kisame sighed. He hated it when his partner ignored him. He sat down on his own bed and lay back. After a few minutes, he decided to try and start a conversation. "Do you need help cleaning that off, Itachi-san?"

"Interesting," Itachi murmured, not listening in the least bit.

Kisame scowled. "You know, you could at least try to not be such an emotionless ass," he muttered. Itachi didn't even bother with a response. Kisame sighed again and glowered at his partner. Then he stood up. "Kay, I'm gonna go blow off all our money on chocolate and porn and tell Kakuzu that you bought it all and laugh as he kicks your scrawny little ass to kingdom come."

"Interesting," Itachi murmured, not listening in the least bit.

Kisame rolled his eyes and sat down next to Itachi. Itachi glanced up. "What?" He finally asked.

Kisame looked back at him. Then he smiled slightly. He just couldn't stay angry at Itachi for long. "Nothing, Itachi-san," he answered.

Itachi sighed. "Has anyone ever told you that you're weird?"

"Not really," he answered. Then he paused. "Well, there is Hidan. And Kakuzu. And Deidara. And that basketball team. And that health clinic. And those demon cheerleaders that snuck into my bedroom last Monday. Oh, and the Barbary Coast—"

"Ok, Kisame, you can stop."

"Oh, s-sorry," he mumbled, blushing slightly.

Itachi rolled his eyes. Sometimes he wondered if his life would've turned out differently if he'd been assigned a different partner in the Akatsuki. Though to be honest, he didn't mind Kisame all that much. He was nice. Not like Deidara or Kakuzu. Or Orochimaru. He shuddered. He still remembered the first thing Orochimaru had said to him. ("Hello there, little boy. Would you like to pet my snake?")

Itachi flopped backwards onto the bed. "You know what? I'm just going to go to sleep."

"Kay," Kisame answered, getting up and laying down in his own bed. "Good night, Itachi-san," he yawned. "Pleasant dreams."

Itachi closed his eyes and started to drift off. His mind wandered back to Martel. Was she still sleeping in his bed? He'd just have to get back and find out. Not that it mattered at all. Because he didn't care. Not at all…

…

_Screaming echoed loudly. People shouting at him as he fell through the dark. Screaming… He felt something wrapped around his throat. Dragging him farther down. And then he heard someone shouting his name._

_Itachi!_

"Itachi-san, wake up!"

Itachi sat up, gasping feebly. Kisame immediately felt his forehead. "I-Itachi'san, you're burning up! I knew it! You were overexerting yourself!" He grabbed Itachi's shoulder and gently pushed him back on to the bed. "Here, just rest a little longer. I'll go get you some soup." Then he left.

Itachi felt something still wrapped around his neck. Slowly, he reached up. A chain was wrapped around his throat. He'd forgotten to take off the necklace with the key. He undid the chain and held up the key.

Was it glowing slightly?


	15. Spider

"So, have you ever thought about converting to Jashin?"

Martel looked at Hidan. It was about midnight, but the Zombie Brothers weren't very keen on getting to bed after working, which was odd, but they were odd so it evened out in the end. Course, they also had to watch Martel since they were home. (They'd pretty much given up on the chart idea after Sasori and Deidara didn't show up for their turn and Martel stole Kakuzu's wallet.) "Jeez, is that seriously all you think about?" She asked him, changing the channel. "You wanna watch a horror movie?"

"Fuck yeah," he answered, leaning back on the couch. "But seriously, you should consider converting. You could kill people and become immortal and such. It's fucking awesome."

Martel rolled her eyes as an onscreen blond was impaled on a tree. "Well, I can think of a few reasons why not. First, have you ever considered becoming a Jehovah's Witness?"

"Ok, not funny."

Martel laughed. "Second, immortality seems like it'd be a hassle, what with the pain from getting 'mortally' wounded again and again, aging, possibly becoming crippled for an eternity, and come on, doesn't it take the thrill out of doing death-defying things?"

"Not really—"

"And third, if the point of your religion is to destroy as much as possible, it would eventually result in the destruction of all humanity, which would then ineptly impair your capacity to destroy in the first place. Without the ability of destruction, you would have no way to continue your practices, which would mean that your immortality would either become an eternal hindrance or be taken back by your so-called god. Basically, you're either assuring an eternity of nothingness or self destruction."

Hidan gaped at her for a moment. "…huh…?"

Kakuzu walked over to them. "What the hell are you two talking about?"

Martel stood up and put an arm around Kakuzu's shoulders. "Come on, Kakuzu, we need to help Hidan not kill himself by repopulating the world."

Kakuzu blinked a few times, processing what she'd just said. Then he took a step back. "Um, no thank you," he answered quickly.

Martel fake pouted at him. "Oh come on, Kakuzu, you're being mean," she said, pretending to be upset. "Don't you want to help your poor partner out?"

"No way in hell. Child support costs money."

Hidan burst out laughing. "That's the only fucking reason?" He asked, gasping for breath. "You're the biggest fucking cheapskate I've ever met, you fucking know that?"

Kakuzu rolled his eyes. "Yes I 'fucking' know that," he replied, imitating Hidan's voice but making it slightly more nasally and obnoxious. Then he turned. "I'm going to the bathroom."

"Have fun," Martel called, smirking. "Don't make too much of a mess."

"That's not what I mean and you know it," he called back.

Martel went back to watching the movie. _Wonder what kind of stuff Weasel-boy is doing, _she wondered idly. She glanced at Hidan. Sure, he was fun to mess with, (he never wore a shirt and seriously, that scythe was compensating for something), but she missed bothering Itachi. And she did enjoy his company. He seemed different from the rest of the Akatsuki, too. Kinder.

And oddly enough, he made her feel somewhat safe. She wasn't completely sure why, but there was just something about him…

"OH MY GOD!" Came the loud shout from the bathroom.

"Oh your god." Hidan called back without so much as looking up from the T.V.

Martel looked up. Then she called, "Did Zetsu clog the toilet, 'cause I'm not cleaning that up!" When there was no reply, Martel stood up, confused. "Um, Kakuzu, whatever happened, the renovations probably won't cost that much!" There was still nothing. "Kakuzu?"

Kakuzu quickly strode up. He looked slightly nervous. "H…Hey Hidan, could you do me a favor?"

Hidan's head shot up. That was the first time Kakuzu had ever asked anyone for a favor, and since Kakuzu just so happened to hate Hidan… "Uh…what do you…need…?" He asked, feeling confused and reserved at the same time.

Kakuzu closed his eyes. "There's a…um…spider in the bathroom. Go smash it for me."

Hidan blinked. "Huh? You want me to…?" He sat there silently for a moment. Then he scowled. "Alright, so what's the catch?" He asked, crossing his arms.

"Why does there have to be a catch?" He asked calmly. Martel noticed he didn't make eye contact. "I just…need a…a favor…"

Hidan stared at him a while longer. Then he grinned and leapt to his feet. "HA! FUCK YEAH! _YOU _NEED _MY _HELP! HA! I'M NOT LETTING YOU FUCKING FORGET THIS, BITCH! FUCK YEAH!" He strutted down the hallway. "STUPID WEB-POLL THINKS I'M GIRLY? WHO'S SEME NOW, BITCHES? THAT'S RIGHT! HIDAN IS! SUCK ON THAT!"

Martel laughed a little bit as he turned the corner. "So what was the catch—?"

Kakuzu grabbed Martel's wrist in a viselike grip and yanked her to her feet. Then he started quickly dragging her down the hallway, twisting her arm slightly.

"Oww," she yelped. "What the hell are you—?"

"Shut the fuck up," he growled. He tugged her harder and sprinted out the door.

Martel started trying to run next to him so he wasn't just dragging her. "Seriously, what the hell do you think you're doing, you psychotic freak? Let go!" He ignored her. "Um…you left the TV on! That wastes money!" He flinched slightly but kept going. That made Martel stop. Of course, since Kakuzu was still dragging her along, she fell over. "What the hell is going on?" She shouted.

There was a loud crash from the hideout. Kakuzu glanced up. "No time to explain. Just keep running." There was another loud crash. Then silence. Martel and Kakuzu both slowed to a stop and looked back toward where they'd came. "Shit…" Kakuzu murmured.

Suddenly, an inhuman screech pierced the silence. Kakuzu and Martel both cringed and covered their ears, but the screech was already in their heads, wiping out any possibility of thought. Then the scream went silent. The two of them stood there, gasping in pain, trying to clear their heads.

Martel's first sentient thought was, _What the fuck kind of spider was that?_ She forced herself to stand up straight. Her legs were trembling uncontrollably. She blinked a few times, trying to force her head to stop pounding. Her eyes fell on Kakuzu. He was standing there, forcing himself to breathe calmly. Maybe she was imagining it, but he seemed slightly paler than usual. His red and green eyes met hers. "Let's go. _Now._"

There was a loud hiss behind Martel. She whipped around, and a shadow passed over her head. She turned again.

Standing in front of them was a large spider, about the size of a polar bear on steroids. It was jet black and hairy, with black multi-lensed eyes and venom dripping from its mandibles. It stared at them with terrifyingly intelligent eyes. Martel slowly reached for her sword, then realized when Kakuzu had kidnapped her, she hadn't been able to grab it. At the moment she was basically defenseless.

Shit.

"Martel," Kakuzu said slowly. She slowly looked over toward him. "When I tell you to run, run." Martel nodded slowly, watching the spider out of the corner of her eye. It swayed back and forth, preparing to attack. Kakuzu began weaving hand signs. "RUN—"

No sooner were the words out of his mouth that the spider leapt at him, screeching angrily. At the same time, there was a loud crash from the earth jutsu Kakuzu used, and Martel was sprinting away. A few moments later, something hard hit the back of her head. She glanced back, and saw that it was Kakuzu's hand. She skidded to a stop. "Kakuzu—"

"RUN OR _I'LL_ KILL YOU, DAMN IT!" He shouted back. She saw the hand on the ground flip her off.

She turned and ran a few steps then stopped. She stole a glance back. The spider, if that what that thing even was, was lightning fast. It had shot forward in the blink of an eye and bit its fangs into Kakuzu's side, tearing away flesh. He was already beginning to black out.

Martel grabbed a sharp-looking tree branch and a rock. She threw the rock at its eye. "Pick on someone your own size!" She shouted desperately, wishing that she actually was closer to that size. The thing looked over. She cleared her voice. "O-Or I guess you could beat the shit out of a poor defenseless girl and become the laughing stock of…spiders…o-or something… Please go away…?" She gave a nervous laugh. _Oh god, I am going to die._

The spider stared for a moment. Then it began making these strange noises. Was it laughing at her? Was that even physically possible? But then the spider began changing shape. Its long legs began retracting into its body, which had begun to elongate. Its eyes seemed to all but disappear.

Now, instead of a spider, it was just a large shadow.

Martel stared for a moment, the sickening familiarity of the creature sinking in. Then she screamed, as it struck out and grabbed her arm. She struggled back as it seared her flesh. Then a single thought flashed through her head. She screamed, "ITACHI!" Then the shadow's hand wrapped around her throat.


	16. Shadow

Itachi and Kisame were walking slowly down the path toward the Akatsuki hideout. Itachi could almost feel Kisame's eyes boring into the back of his head, his face etched full of a mixture of concern and panic. Itachi glanced over his shoulder at him. Yup, panic and concern. He turned back.

"Itachi-san, how're you feeling?" Kisame asked after a few moments.

"Same as I was last time you asked," Itachi responded, getting really annoyed with Kisame's worry. Sure, deep down he was glad that Kisame actually cared about him, which was more to say than the rest of the Akatsuki, but sometimes he would gain the obnoxious overbearing qualities of a mother or a housewife.

"Itachi-san, how many fingers am I holding up?" Kisame asked, holding up three fingers and shoving them in Itachi's face.

Itachi glared at him and continued walking. With each step, his muscles screamed in protest. He could not get back fast enough. All he wanted to do was sleep for months. His eyelids felt like lead and his feet were about as well off. He'd barely slept last night, mostly due to Kisame force-feeding him chicken broth for an hour and a half and spending another hour staring at him anxiously. He was exhausted and practically out of chakra. He was close to passing out.

_Throb_

Itachi stopped. Immediately, Kisame grabbed his arm and started scanning his face, making sure he wasn't seizing or anything. Itachi pulled his arm away and unconsciously grabbed the key dangling around his neck. It had been acting strange since last night, and he was beginning to feel nervous. Every so often, it would throb, turning white-hot against his skin. But no, that couldn't happen; it was an inanimate object. He sighed. Maybe he was hallucinating again. Earlier he thought he'd heard someone say his name…

"_Itachi"_

Itachi froze and glanced quickly around. No one was there except Kisame, who hadn't said a word. Itachi sighed. "I really need a nap," he murmured. He glanced up at his partner. "Just making sure, did you hear anything?"

Kisame shook his head. "No, I didn't. Are you positive you're feeling alright?" He felt Itachi's forehead. "You still feel warm. Maybe we should take a quick break. I really don't mind."

Itachi shook his head. "We're ten minutes away. I'll be—"

He tripped and hit the ground face first with a loud thud. "Itachi-san!" Kisame yelped, bending down quickly. "Are you ok?"

"…I'm…fine…" he muttered, slowly sitting up. He started brushing the dirt and dust off his face and cloak. "Damn," he sighed, looking around. "Jeez, what the hell did I trip on…?"

He froze. Lying near his feet was a single dismembered hand. Itachi blinked. "What…?" Was all he managed to whisper. He reached over and gingerly picked it up. It was tan, with threads dangling loosely from the edges…

"Kakuzu?" He shakily stood up. "Kakuzu?" He called a little louder. "Kakuzu, you dropped something…!" When there was no answer, he looked over at Kisame. Kisame just looked back at him, looking confused.

Then Konan ran up. Her face and cloak were smeared with blood. She stopped in front of them, gasping. "Have either of you seen—"

Itachi held up Kakuzu's hand. Konan stared at it. "No…" she murmured. After a few seconds, she started quickly looking around. "Kakuzu! Martel!" She yelled desperately.

Kisame grabbed her arm. "Wait, what happened?" He asked her. "What happened to them? What about Hidan?"

As he asked that last question, Hidan stumbled forward. His stomach and throat were torn open, bleeding out onto his clothes. His right arm was practically torn off, dangling only by a few threads in his shoulder from an earlier injury Kakuzu had fixed, and shattered bone was jutting out of his left. His eyes were glassy. He looked like he was trying to say something, but only a crimson spray of blood gurgled out from his mouth.

Itachi stared at him. "Holy shit!" He yelped. He grabbed Hidan's shoulder. "What happened? W…Where's Martel?"

Hidan stared up at him, looking barely conscious. He started trying to speak. Unfortunately, Itachi was only able to make out three words before Hidan collapsed to the ground.

The first one was 'fuck'. Obviously.

The second was 'Martel'.

The third was 'Shadow'.

Itachi was frozen in place. Shadow… Shadow… He'd said shadow… His mind flashed back to that dream he'd had. To Martel's memories. His hand slowly drifted up to the small key hanging around his neck.

Time seemed to slow down. _Something passed in front of him. It was a blurry image, translucent and hazy. It was Kakuzu and Martel. Martel was yelling something at Kakuzu. Kakuzu yelled something back. Then they both stopped and looked over their shoulder._

Itachi walked a little closer, stunned and confused. _Both of them cringed, like there was an explosion nearby. _Itachi reached out, his hand passing through the ghostlike images. _Martel straightened up. So did Kakuzu. An impossibly large spider leapt forward._

"Itachi-san?" _Kakuzu began weaving hand signs, then Martel began running. _"Itachi-san, what're you looking at? Are you alright?" Itachi glanced toward Kisame, who looked worried. He looked back. _The spider ripped Kakuzu's hand off. It flew through the air, hitting the back of Martel's head and landing about where Itachi tripped. _"Itachi-san, answer me," Kisame insisted, grabbing Itachi's shoulder.

_The spider reared forward to strike a killing blow. Then a large rock smashed into its face. It turned toward Martel, and Kakuzu stumbled backward into the bushes._

"He should be that way." Everyone looked at Itachi. He pointed to the bushes. "In that direction. Kakuzu went that way." Konan looked at him for a moment, then ran in that direction. Kisame just stared at Itachi. Itachi ignored him and turned back toward the ghosts.

_The spider had become a shadow. It stood there, then lunged at Martel. She turned and tried to run, but it grabbed her arm. _Itachi walked forward. _It grabbed her throat. As it did, she screamed a single word._

"_ITACHI"_

Itachi stiffened, wide eyed. His breath caught. She'd shouted his name…

_The shadow stood there silently for a few seconds, staring down at its prey as Martel slipped into unconsciousness. It leapt forward through the trees, grinning with sharp teeth that had been hidden…_and then the image disappeared.

Itachi blinked a few times. "That…that's it…?" He murmured, confused.

"What's it, Itachi-san?" Kisame asked.

Itachi shook his head. "No. No, that can't be it." He started forward. "No, that's not…" He went faster, in the direction that the shadow had been heading. "Come on there has to be more!"

Kisame ran after him. "Itachi-san, what are you doing?" He asked, looking back over his shoulder. "I thought you said they were that way. That's where you sent Konan." Itachi ignored him. Kisame caught up with him. "Itachi-san, what the fuck is going on?"

"Kisame, shut up."

Kisame flinched slightly, hating being reprimanded. "Itachi-san, I'm…I just…can't you just let me help you for once in your fucking life?" He finally managed to growl, trying to keep the pain out of his voice.

Itachi skidded to a stop. Kisame stopped too. "Itachi-san, what's—" He stopped.

They'd come to a small clearing in the trees, still small enough for the large trees surrounding to shade the entire area, the sun faintly shining through a few holes in the treetops. Lying face down in the center was Martel. There was blood seeping from a gash in her side. Her hair was dirty and bloodstained, and neither Itachi nor Kisame could tell if she was breathing.

Itachi rushed forward. He rolled her over, praying silently that she was alive. He leaned forward and placed his hand on her throat. Then he let out a breath he hadn't noticed he'd been holding. She was alive.

Kisame watched Itachi checking her pulse, a thousand thoughts racing through his mind. _What happened? What was going on? Who did this? Why would they just leave her there…?_

His eyes widened. He sprinted forward in front of Itachi. He screamed, _**"ITACHI-SA—"**_

There was a loud crash as a large black shape smashed into Kisame's side. He flew back and slammed into a tree. Itachi heard a sickening snap, but wasn't sure if it was part of the tree or one of Kisame's ribs. Itachi jumped to his feet.

The shadow had long claws on its gnarled hands. It slowly looked over toward Itachi. Itachi brought up his sharingan. He could tell he was going to need it. Although he only had enough chakra for maybe five minutes, not factoring in jutsus he'd need, or mangekyo sharingan. He'd have to try to play this safe.

The two of them stared at each other. The shadow had taken the form of what Itachi would imagine a demon looked like: twisted horns, long claws, and a scaly tail, swishing behind it. Its muscles were tensed, and it swayed back and forth slightly, preparing to attack.

Then it smiled at him. Itachi felt his stomach clench. It had long razor sharp teeth, multiple rows of them, all packed into its mouth showing through a horrible, twisted grin.

It leapt at him, screeching. He twisted sideways, but not nearly fast enough. Its teeth dug into his side, and Itachi screamed. He stabbed a kunai into its eye and used amaterasu, but it jumped back, narrowly missing the black flames.

Itachi gasped in pain. He hadn't expected it to be nearly that fast. Without his sharingan, he would be dead. He looked over at it. It glared at him with its eye, the other one leaking a black liquid. Itachi couldn't help shuddering slightly. He pulled out a few shuriken and quickly began weaving hand signs.

"_Itachi was your name, correct?"_

Itachi froze. He stared at the creature. It was smiling cruelly. _"That is what he called you earlier, is it not?" _Its mouth never moved, but Itachi could tell that it was speaking to him. Its gaze had drifted toward Kisame. Itachi glanced toward him too.

Within the split second it took him to glance back, the shadow had already leapt at him. He twisted out of the way, but the creature managed to graze his throat, maybe nicking Itachi's carotid artery. He stumbled backward and pressed his hand to the wound, which had already begun gushing blood. He grimaced and threw a shuriken at its other eye.

The shuriken passed through it and lodged itself in the tree behind it.

Itachi didn't have time to register that fact before it slashed at his eyes. He ducked back and rolled out of the way. He tried to gather his thoughts, which were beginning to swirl around in his head, probably from the blood loss. It wasn't hurt the second time he'd attacked. Why is that?

He stumbled backward, and slipped on the black blood that had splattered on the ground when he'd stabbed its eye. He landed in a small patch of light.

…_Light…_

Itachi's eyes widened. _Light! That was the difference!_ He grinned and used the last of his chakra and used a giant fireball. It shot through the creature and ignited the tree tops. The fire ate through the leaves, bathing the entire area in blinding light.

Itachi gasped and his arms collapsed to his sides. The shadow stared at him. It looked up at the sky, then back at him. Then it sneered.

Itachi gasped painfully. Of course it wasn't dead. What did he expect; it'd burst into flames? It was a desperate move, and now that he'd gotten it somewhat vulnerable, he couldn't move. And now he was going to die.

The shadow pressed its knuckles against his chest. It slowly began to press down, until Itachi was sure that every bone in his chest cavity would snap. He shut his eyes.

There was a loud screech as something wet splattered onto Itachi's face. His eyes opened slightly. Kisame was standing over him, holding his sword in front of them. The shadow had a large gash in its side. It glared angrily at Kisame, then smirked ever so slightly. Then it slowly sunk into the ground and was gone.

Itachi stared at Kisame. Kisame glanced back at him. There was blood dripping from his mouth, and he looked like he was in pain. They stared at each other for a moment, then Itachi slipped into the sweet serenity of unconsciousness.


	17. Recuperating

"So how did all this happen, hn?" Deidara asked, looking exhausted.

The Akatsuki members were standing around in a hotel room, all sore and tired. They'd ended up getting one hotel suite (since Kakuzu refused to let them use more money on separate hotel rooms). The people who were hurt got the beds and the rest got to argue over the extra bedroom (Pein won that argument) and the couch.

Hidan, Kakuzu, and Deidara were all sitting on the couch. Sasori was sitting in the corner, carving something. Konan was pacing the room, the way she sometimes did when she was nervous, which was rare. She looked up at Deidara. "Someone found our base," she answered for the millionth time. Then she looked around the room. "Does anyone know how they found us?"

Kakuzu shrugged. "That thing was intelligent. From what I could tell, getting past us wouldn't have been too hard." He slowly struggled to his feet, his muscles all in excruciating pain. "My question is why it was there? It could've destroyed our base if that was its purpose, but it didn't. It could've killed me, probably could've completely destroyed Hidan, but it didn't. Instead," he glanced toward the small adjoining room where a few members were still sleeping, "it went after her…"

Konan followed his gaze, not saying a word. She'd always had a mild curiosity for Martel, but now… She turned back toward the others.

Deidara gave a melodramatic sigh. "Well whatever. What do we do now?" He asked. "All my stuff was back at the base, yeah. Do you really expect me to use the crappy shampoo they have here? And I'm gonna run out of clay any day, too!"

Konan shook her head. "I really don't know. Pein and I were discussing it last night—"

"Oh is that what you two were doing last night?" Deidara asked with a smirk. Konan's face reddened slightly and the others started to snicker. "That's certainly not what it sounded like from where _we_ were, yeah." He started making his voice high pitched. "_Oh Leader-sama, that feels sooo good! Oh my god, right there! Oh god—_ACK!" He yelped as Konan grabbed his pony tail and twisted it at an awkward angle.

"_As I was saying,_" she growled darkly, ignoring Deidara's pained yelps, "Pein and I have discussed it and sent Zetsu to look around the base and maybe take or destroy anything important."

Kakuzu began laughing uncontrollably. Then there was a noise next to him that sounded like a combination of a squeak and a gasp. He looked over at Hidan, who'd clamped his hand over his mouth. Kakuzu started laughing even harder. Hidan flipped him off, gingerly rubbing the threads in his throat with his other hand.

(Note: In the fight, the Shadow had managed to cut through Hidan's vocal cords. Since Hidan was immortal, it would heal up eventually, but until then, he sounded fucking hilarious.)

Kisame walked out of the bedroom. Deidara looked at him. "Jeez, what the hell were you doing in there?" He asked.

"Checking up on Itachi-san," he answered, sitting down. After a moment, he remembered to add, "And Martel."

Hidan grabbed a notepad from the small coffee table in from of him and scribbled out something. He handed it to Kisame. Kisame turned purple. "That's disgusting! I'm not gay, you asshole!" He shouted, throwing the notepad back at Hidan. "Can't I just be worried about my friend without you people jamming your heads into the fucking gutter?" Hidan flipped him off.

Konan glared at the two of them. "Both of you cut it out," she scolded. "Things are bad enough without you at each other's throats. No pun intended," she quickly added when Hidan gave her a hurt glare, rubbing the stitches again.

"I thought it was punny, hn!"

Everyone glared at Deidara. Sasori threw a wooden arm at his head.

Kisame got back up, ignoring the sharp pain in his chest. From the broken ribs, of course. "Maybe I should bring Itachi-san some water. He'll probably be thirsty when he gets up."

"Get Martel one too," Konan said, going back to pacing.

"Err, right. I was doing that," he replied. He grabbed some glasses from the cupboard and poured out some water. Then he strode into the next room.

Itachi was covered in horrible bruises and gashes, with bloody bandages wound tightly around his throat. Kisame flinched just from looking at them. He sighed and placed a cup on the bedside table. He couldn't help but stare at Itachi. There was just something about his face when he slept…he just looked so serine…so…

Kisame shook his head quickly. "Holy shit, I have got to stop thinking like that," he murmured to himself, walking to the other side of the bed.

For some reason the others had voted for putting Itachi and Martel in the same bed. It did sort of make sense: there weren't enough beds, they both were unconscious and probably would stay that way for a while, and if Martel was put in a bed with someone else, terrible things would ensue.

Still, Kisame couldn't help but glare at her as he set the water down. Glaring at the girl that almost got Itachi-san killed.

"K…Kisame…?"

Kisame stiffened and looked up at Itachi. Itachi looked blearily back at him. "Why are you in my room?" He asked groggily, rubbing his eyes. He glanced around. "And…why does my room look like a cheap hotel?"

Kisame stared at him. Then he ran to the other side of the bed and glomped him. "Itachi-san!" He shouted happily. Then he pulled back. "How are you feeling? Is anything broken? Are you in pain? I can go get you some pain killers. Here, I brought you some water!" He grabbed the water and shoved it into Itachi's hand. "Drink it; you've been unconscious for over twenty-four hours and are probably dehydrated. Drink it!"

"Wh…What are you talking about?" Itachi replied, surprised at how hoarse his throat felt. "Where are we? Why…?"

Martel shifted in her sleep next to him, brushing against his side. Itachi stiffened and looked over, and all the memories flooded his mind.

"HOLY SHIT!" He yelped, scrambling out of the bed, knocking the water to the floor. "T-That Shadow! What happened to it? We need to—"

"Itachi-san, calm down." Kisame grabbed his arm, steadying his swaying friend. "Sit back down."

"Why the hell should I?" Itachi snapped, right before his legs gave out and he fell to the ground. "Son of a bitch," Itachi swore angrily, trying to stand back up, but finding his legs completely numb.

Kisame rolled his eyes. "Oh, I wonder why," he murmured, grabbing Itachi's arm and setting him back on the bed. "You can be such a dumbass sometimes."

Itachi glowered at him for a moment. The two of them were silent for a moment. Then Itachi glanced away. "Listen, Kisame…um…" He cleared his throat slightly. "I guess I need to…well…thank you…for…" He sighed. He never was good at showing gratitude. "Thanks for…y'know…"

"…saving your ungrateful ass?" Kisame finished for him, picking up the glass from the floor and setting it back on the table.

Itachi sighed. "Err, yeah. That." He forced himself to make eye contact. "Thanks," he repeated.

Kisame looked at him for a moment. Then he smiled. "Well, that's what friends are for, Itachi-san!" He replied brightly, patting Itachi's head, resulting in an annoyed scowl.

Itachi swatted his hand after a few pats. "Yeah, stop that." He sighed. "Jeez, I feel like shit," he mumbled. He looked over at Martel. "Has…Martel woken up yet? Is she hurt at all? Is she ok?"

Kisame looked at her, then back to Itachi, not completely sure what to say. "Well…she hasn't woken up yet," he answered slowly. "But come on, it's Martel. She'll probably be back to her bitchy self in the morning. Now you should get to sleep." He paused, noticing something around Itachi's neck. "Itachi-san, you're still wearing that necklace. You're going to choke to death in your sleep."

"I'm fine." Itachi grabbed the key, surprised at how cold it felt now. "Good night, Kisame."

Kisame sighed. "Good night, Itachi-san."

…

Hours later, the Akatsuki was fast asleep. Deidara was sprawled across the couch, dreaming about fire and explosions, every few minutes murmuring "yeah" or "hn". Sasori had fallen asleep inside of Hiruko in the corner. Konan and Pein were asleep in the other room. Hidan and Kakuzu had built a wall of pillows between themselves and fallen asleep on the other bed, Hidan choosing to sleep with his scythe gripped tightly in his hands. Kisame had somehow fallen asleep at the foot of Itachi's bed.

The door opened and a figure slipped through. He quickly scanned the room, smirking when he was sure everyone was asleep. He walked silently past Deidara and slipped into the next room.

He walked to the bed and looked down at Itachi, sleeping peacefully. Usually he was a light sleeper, but tonight he was definitely out of it. The figure smiled slightly. He reached down and grabbed the small silver key around Itachi's neck…


End file.
